


Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series

by Nudeviking



Series: Dragon Age [9]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:07:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6032577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nudeviking/pseuds/Nudeviking





	1. Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series - Part 1

Sara crammed her belongings into a chest as Lydia sat on the sofa, leafing through Sara’s diary, trying to keep her mind of the throbbing pain that radiated from her mark.  “Heroes eh? You and I are heroes?” Lydia inquired as she read her girlfriend’s account of Coprophilia’s fall.

“Well we are yeah? We killed that melty shitbag, Coproshitty-ah, didn’t we? That in my book makes us heroes yeah?” Sara replied as she tried to force the bulging chest shut, “Now stop looking at my book and come here and sit on this chest for me yeah? I can’t get it closed and your arse is a lot bigger than mine…probably will work better right?”

Lydia sighed and stood up, “’Help me fatass,’ probably isn’t the best way to get a person to help you, you know.”

“Aw Buckles don’t feel bad about it yeah,” Sara replied, “You know I like your arse. It’s a nice arse…in fact I wish I had an arse like yours yeah? Mine’s all bony and…and elfy.  You know who probably likes this kind of arse?  That knob, Solas, that's who!  Yuck...Solas...”

Lydia shook her head and sighed again before sitting down upon the chest. Sara had been correct and the chest closed sufficiently enough under Lydia’s weight that Sara was able to latch it closed. Sara had a way of always getting her to do what she wanted. “I don’t know why you’re taking all this stuff with you anyway. We’ll be coming back to Skyhold when this stupid Senate hearing is all over with anyway,” Lydia said as she stood, “I doubt we’ll be gone more than a few weeks.”

Sara laughed, “You don’t know that Buckles. These are real nobly nobles you have to go convince that the Inquisition is a right proper thing yeah? They’re not like you at all. I mean, yeah you’re technically a noble, but not really a nobly noble right? Like you rub bits with me and are polite to regular people people and don’t let rich pricks get away with shit if they’re being pricks just because they’re rich. Real nobly nobles aren’t like that at all. They get all weird when their scared, and you scare them Love…like, a lot. So I’m packing up all my things yeah? Maybe they decide that some rich dick from Orleans would make a better Inquisitor than you and that guy marches in here straight away with his golden plated knickers and his fancy silk shit rags and puts on the big hat.  I don’t want that guy looking at my book or my knickers or my fancy cup or my shit goblet…know whut I mean?”

“I suppose you’re right,” Lydia said.

“So you’re going to pack your stuff then yeah?”

Lydia looked around her room, smiled and said, “Sara, I don’t need any of this stuff, so long as you’re with me.”

"Aw Buckles.When you say stuff like that it makes me want to do things to you...naughty things your mother wouldn't approve of," Sara said, "Come 'ere yeah?"

Sara pulled Lydia towards the bed and then Sara pulled Lydia atop her.Lydia giggled and said, "Just so you know my mother wouldn't approve of me having lunch with you let alone what I'm about to do."  She then began unbuttoning Sara's blouse with deft fingers when there suddenly was a knock at the door.

"If we ignore them, they'll go away," Lydia said as her fingers worked the tiny, bone buttons of Sara's blouse, "Jesus why does this shirt have so many buttons?"

"Let me help you," Sara said as she started to unbutton the blouse from the bottom.  The knocking continued and Sara asked, "What if it's Josie yeah?And she's all, 'I've done my duty long enough and this could all end tomorrow...I need to rub bits with you at least once before it ends.'"

Lydia laughed and said, "I doubt it's Josie but even if it is it doesn't matter because whoever it is we're going to ignore them."

She continued unbuttoning Sara's blouse, opening it and revealing the elf's pert breasts.The knocking came again; louder and more persistent.Sara pulled a blanket over herself and said, "I don't think they're leaving yeah?Better see who it is and what they want."

Lydia grumbled in annoyance."You're probably right," she said to Sara before yelling down to whomever was knocking, "Come in!"

As the sound of footsteps on the stairs echoed through the chamber, Sara affecting the worst Antivan accent ever said, "Oh Lady Trevelyn I want you to rip off all my lacy shits and kiss me the way you kiss that elf, Sara..."

Lydia smirked and said, "You're so bad, but knock it off, it's not Josephine."

Sara's eyes suddenly bulged and she bit her lower lip as if to keep from laughing as familiar Antivan accent came from behind Lydia."Ah good I see you are packing...or rather were packing before whatever this is began."

Lydia turned and saw Josephine standing before her."Hello Josephine," she said wondering if the Antivan nerd noticed her unbuckled belt.Knowing Josephine she undoubtedly had.

"I just wanted to remind you that as a Senate hearing is quite a serious affair it would behoove you to wear formal attire," Josephine said, "I would not have thought to have to instruct the daughter of Lord Trevelyn on etiquette and proper attire, and yet here we are."

"Yet here we are..." Lydia replied.Lydia knew that Josephine had totally noticed her unbuckled belt."Is there anything else you needed Josie?"

Josephine nodded."No.Just that we will be departing from Skyhold at dawn so please do try and get some sleep tonight.You too Sara," she said and then curtsied, "I take my leave, as it is quite clear that I had overstayed my welcome from the moment I entered the room."

Lydia and Sara waited until they heard the sound of the door closing before both broke into laughter.

"I thought she was going to faint yeah...when she saw me and then saw your unbuckled buckles Buckles."

"I know!Was she always like that?I don't remember her being so bad when Tom was still here," Lydia said as she pulled her tunic off over her head.

"Because she was getting Blackwalled on the regular," Sara said as she pulled off her leggings, "Josie needs to get laid yeah?You know it's a bad scene when Creepy gets more action than she does."

"Wait what?!" Lydia exclaimed, "Cole?You're talking about Cole?  You are telling me that Cole gets more action that Josie?Cole and who?"

"Creepette," Sara replied, "You know, that terrible bard with that stupid song about 'Sara was a disagreeable girl' or whatever.  Hung around in the brewpub...fancied me even though she and everyone else knew you and I were rubbing bits together regularly."

"Really?Cole and that bard?Wow."

"Yeah.I dunno, it's weird yeah? I think they're both creepy shits or at least thought they were creepy shits but together they...I dunno, they seem less creepy or something.Don't misunderstand me or anything.I still don't want to hang out with either of them but I'm kind of happy for them.You know whut I mean?"

"Yeah Sara I do," Lydia replied.

"Good! So let's stop talking.I've got something else I need my mouth for yeah?"

* * *

How long had they been on the road?Lydia had lost count several days ago though she knew it had taken far longer than the five days that they had expected, for at each town and village they passed the townsfolk would delay them with feasts and speeches giving thanks to the Inquisition for keeping them safe, and there was not a farmhouse between Skyhold and Orleans that did not stop their work to give the Inquisitor a high five.  Lydia was all too happy to oblige them, though some in her party, Josephine chief among them, who cautioned her against keeping the Senate Ways and Means Committee waiting.

"You don't know how those people are!" the Antivan exclaimed as a farmer was off fetching booze and his "most comely daughter to keep the Inquisitor company."

"Josephine you worry too much," Lydia said.

"Because sometimes you don't worry enough," she replied with an exasperated sigh, "You are aware that neither Orleans or Feldspar is currently happy with the Inquisition and there is a very real possibility that they could force us to disband are you not?"

"Maybe we should disband," Lydia said, causing the Antivan nerd to gasp.  The Inquisitor continued, "I mean we started the Inquisition to stop Coprophilia, which we did two years ago, and then we kind of stuck around to 'restore order.'  Look around Josephine...order's more or less been restored.  I mean, yeah, there will always be bandits and earthquakes and stuff that people will need help recovering from, but do we really need an army to do that?  Seriously, half our people are gone already.  Varric, Tom, and Dorian all bailed, Vivian left to be Lady Pope...hell Solas didn't even wait for the victory party before he took off.  Who does that leave?  Cassandra...but I hardly ever see her anymore because she's busy recruiting for the Seekers.  Bull and the Chargers are still on our payroll, but I know they're taking other jobs on the side already.  Sara's told me the only reason she's still with the Inquisition is because she and I are a couple.  So you, Cullen, Leliana, Cole and I are pretty much the only ones left, and to be honest...I'd rather hang up my Inquisitor costume and just go live my life too."

Josephine's jaw hung slack a moment before she stood and said, "I see.  Perhaps you shall get your wish sooner rather than later.  Let's finish up here and be off, we are late as it is, but if we do not delay here long we can be in Orleans this evening."   Lydia watched her walk over to where Cullen was standing and began conversing with him in a most animated fashion.  It was obvious that Josephine was telling him what Lydia had just said.

"What's Ruffles all in a tizzy about yeah?" Sara asked, as she sat down next to Lydia.

"I told her I didn't care if the Inquisition got disbanded.  I may have even said I'd be happier if it was disbanded and we all got to go home."

"Home yeah?  Back to Ostwick...and being Lady Trevelyn again?" Sara asked looking down at her feet.

"No...of course not.  That place stopped being home a long time ago Sara."

Sara turned her large eyes upon Lydia and asked, "Then where?"

"Somewhere with you, if that's what you're worried about," Lydia said.

Sara laughed nervously and said, "Whut me worry about that?  Like you leaving me to go back to the Marches and be all nobly with some noble prat with a serious mustache and then having a couple of babies?  Hah!  Hah!  Like I would ever think about anything stupid like that, let alone worry about it yeah?  I...uh...there was uh...you know what...never mind yeah?  I'll uh see you later or whatever yeah?"  Sara then stood and rather quickly ran off.

"She kind of been acting weird these past few weeks," Lydia thought to herself, "but I suppose that's just part of her charm."

* * *

It was dusk as the Inquisition, Lydia, Cullen and Josephine in the lead, rode onto the grounds of the Winter Palace.  Cullen moaned and muttered, "Christ Jesus I hate this place."

Josephine smiled, "Why?  The ladies here still speak of 'the handsome general, with the great hair, who saved Empress Selena.'  I'm quite certain we could arrange a most suitable marriage for you with one of the noble houses.  It would certainly help us out of our currently precarious situation."

"No.  No marriage," Cullen said, "Especially to an Orleansian."

"Perhaps a Feldsparian then?  There are several noble houses here from your homeland as well for the hearing.  Honestly having some of the Feldsparian nobility on our side would be a boon," Josephine said, "since to be honest, they are the ones more set upon seeing us disbanded.  The Orleansians will more likely than not attempt to bring us more directly under their control rather than disband us outright."

"No marriage," Cullen said again.

"Alright," Josephine said, sounding slightly disappointed, "Maybe you the Lydia?  There are a number of noble families still quite interested in you...regardless of your...um...proclivities."

"What?" Lydia asked, raising her eyebrow in shock, "I'm not marrying some random nobleman just so an Inquisition that even I don't want to be part of anymore can keep on keeping on."

"I see," Josephine said, clearly disappointed, "Well, at the very least you should speak with Mother Gazelle this evening.  She requested an audience with you and did do a lot of work for us before she left with Divine Victoria."

"Mother Gazelle?  Yeah I'll go talk to her," Lydia said as she climbed off her steed and headed up to the palace proper.  As she headed up the stairs to the palace she turned and said, "Cullen, tell Sara I'll meet her at the bar when I'm done with Mother Gazelle."

Cullen nodded and Lydia made her way past the guards who seemingly recognized her on sight.  She was led into a rather larger parlor, and several minutes later Mother Gazelle entered through another door.  She looked much older than she had when Lydia had last seen her.

"Inquisitor it is good to see you again, though I wish it could have been under somewhat more pleasant circumstances," the Orleansian nun said, "A Senate Ways & Means Committee hearing is hardly the most ideal place to catch up with old friends, and yet that is where we find ourselves..."

"Mother Gazelle it is good to see you too.  I wanted to thank you for the work you have done in the Dales.  A lot of people have roofs over their heads and food in their bellies because of you and your people," Lydia said.

"Nonsense...we may have distributed the food and hammered the nails, but we would not have had food to give or lumber with which to build without the Inquisition.  You and your people have done great work for Thedas and in a few weeks time it will be decided what will become of your organization," Mother Gazelle said.

Lydia sighed and said, "That is what I have heard."

"What do you hope the outcome of this hearing to be?" the nun asked.

"Do you remember when you and I first met?  You told me about the first Inquisition.  You told me that the people of the Inquisition came together to restore order, but once they had, they hung up their swords and went home," Lydia said, "I think it is time for us to put away our swords and go home."

Mother Gazelle smiled and said, "You are wiser than you know.  I would invite you to share a meal, but I fear my duties require me elsewhere.  The Ways & Means Committee is still awaiting the arrival of several more parties, so I do not expect the hearing to begin for several more days at least.  I have heard that the majority of you companions have been summoned here to the Winter Palace and thus I hope you can take this time to see other old friends.  I, myself, must find the ambassador from Davinter and apologize to him."

"Davinter sent an ambassador here?" Lydia said, "I cannot imagine any reason you would have to apologize to a Davinter ambassador."

"Because some years ago I let prejudice cloud my mind and treated rather poorly with young Master Parvus," Mother Gazelle replied, "As I said, you are wiser than you know Inquisitor.  You could see past Master Parvus' nationality and see him for the good man he truly is."

"Dorian?  Dorian's here too?  And an ambassador?" Lydia asked in shock.

"He is indeed," Mother Gazelle replied, "I am afraid I must bid you farewell, for Divine Victoria requires much from me.  I hope you and I can speak again before you depart from the Winter Palace."

"I hope so as well.  Farewell Mother Gazelle," Lydia replied and hugged the aged nun.  Mother Gazelle bowed slightly and left the room.

Lydia headed out of the palace into the cool night air of the town that surrounded the palace.  She walked through the cobblestone streets, past crowds of people who gawked at her and whispered to one another in hushed tones, "That's her...the Inquisitor.  She's not half as pretty as she looks in the pictures."  Lydia paid them no mind.

"Lydia!" a familiar voice called out.  Lydia turned to see Cassandra walking towards her.

"Cassandra!  It's good to see you again," Lydia said, "How are the Seekers coming along?"

"Quite well, I found some of my old colleagues who were willing to help rebuild the order and we have been slowly recruiting new members...telling them everything of course...no more secret initiations or anything like that.  The New Seekers are all about transparency," Cassandra replied, "But I am certain you have more important things to do than listen to me ramble on about the Seekers, what with your wedding fast approaching."

"My wedding?" Lydia replied.

"Yes!  Your wedding to Sara!" Cassandra said, "Two years ago I would never believe I would be saying this, but I am glad you and she found each other.  You seem to make each other very happy."

"We do, and I thank you for the sentiment, but we aren't getting married," Lydia said, "At least not in the immediate future.  I mean we've never even talked about it."

Cassandra growled, "Ooooh Varric!  I'm going to kill that dwarf the next time I see him!  He told me that Sara, herself, told him!  But no!  That was just another one of his tales to make me look like a fool!"

"Cassandra don't worry about it," Lydia said, "It's something I've thought about so, you don't really seem foolish to me."

The Seeker seemed to calm down slightly, but still seemed a little annoyed when she said, "I'm still going to kill Varric though.  Anyway I have matters to discuss with Leliana, so I am afraid I must be off.  I hope we can get together for coffee or something before the hearing is finished."

"That would be nice," Lydia offered.

"Yes it would.  Anyway, smell ya later."

"Smell ya later Cassandra." 

The Seeker walked off and Lydia  continued on her way.  She turned down a side street and walked until she heard the familiar caterwauling of the bard Maryden singing about Scout Harding.  Her song writing had gotten so much worse during the time Lydia had known her.  Lydia made eye contact with her and gave a slight head nod that the bard returned.  Lydia saw Cole standing nearby, perhaps Sara was right...perhaps something was going on between the two of them.

She entered the bar and found Sara sitting alone at a table, absentmindedly tearing apart a paper napkin.  Lydia walked over and in a horrible Orleansian accent asked, "Pardonnez-moi iz anyone zitting here mademoiselle?  Might you care for zome company?"

Without looking up Sara replied, "Piss off, I'm waiting for someone yeah?"

Lydia dropped the accent and said, "Me I hope," and sat down.

Sara looked up, and instead of bellowing "Buckles!" as she normally did, muttered, "Uh..piss...yeah.  Yeah, sit down yeah?  Okay...sitting right?"

"Sara?"

"Okay look, so everything is changing yeah?  I mean everything's always changing but now it's really going to change for us...for everyone in the Inquisition yeah?  But I was thinking that maybe I don't want it to change you know whut I mean?  Not all of it at least...I mean I want one thing at least to stay the same right?" Sara stammered as she continued to absentmindedly tear at the napkin in her hands.

Lydia felt her heart beat faster, "Sara...you're not making a lot of sense right now.  You're not breaking up with me are you?"

"No.  No!  Not that yeah?  I mean I was worried they were going to try to turn you into a real nobly noble again...I heard Josie talking yeah.  Anyway I want what we have to stay the same, but maybe not the same.  You know whut I mean?  I guess I...no I can't...I mean I want...no no no!  Ug why is this so...I mean I shot a billion arrows at Coprotittya and saved the world right?  Why is it so hard to ask you to marry me?" Sara shouted.  Her own jaw hanging as slack jawed as Lydia's, Sara continued, "Lady Trevelyn, will you marry me?"

Lydia felt tears welling up in her eyes, "Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  All the yeses!  Sara, let's do it!  Let's get married!"


	2. Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series - Part 2

_Dear Lydia,_

_I take to the pen to reply to the missive that arrived from you early this morn.  I was most disheartened to hear of the farce you plan on undertaking in Orleans.  Honestly Lydia, has this youthful act of defiance not gone on long enough?  Did you truly expect either your father or I to give our blessing to such a union as this?  To be quite forthright, were it not for the heroic manner you bested that vile Davinter Magister and closed the Breach in Feldspar we would have already take steps to remove your name from our family registry, but your deeds as Inquisitor have not been without merit and the Trevelyn name is now one to be respected beyond even the Free Marches.  For that you have our thanks and our respect, but a_ _s your mother I beseech you, Lydia, please reconsider marrying this girl._

 _Though I still find your predilections most unnatural,_ _I  am quite at a loss and would be willing to go so far as to allow you to court another women with "interests" similar to your own, provided she is from a family of some affluence.  I have heard one of the more well-to-do Antivan merchant families has a yet unmarried daughter who is of an age with you and has in the past courted other young women (I am quite certain you know how Antivans can be).  Would not a young woman such as this Antivan merchant prince's daughter be a better match for our family than an elf...a common one at that?_ _Do you care at all of how scandalous news of your wedding will be here in the Marches when they learn that the youngest Trevelyn girl has married an elfess that does not even possess a surname?_

_You have proven yourself to be a most stubborn child and thus I do not think even my most heartfelt pleas will cause you to reconsider your current course of actions and thus I close by saying that I do not think you will be surprised to hear that neither your father nor I will be attending your 'marriage' to this knife-eared strumpet.  Should you find yourself in Ostwick in the future, please know that you will no longer find yourself welcome at Trevelyn Keep should you go through with this farce of a marriage._

_Sincerely,_

_Lady Trevelyn_  

Lydia tried to put her mother's letter from her mind as the bells sounded throughout the Winter Palace.  The wedding had been lovely and Sara and Lydia now found themselves standing upon a balcony overlooking the palace grounds.  Lydia wondered how Josephine had arranged everything so quickly, but then remembered that she herself was probably the last one Sara had told about the wedding.  She looked at Sara, clad in a gown of white silk, with the sunlight causing her hair to look like spun gold.  She looked lovelier than she ever had before, though Lydia probably would have thought the same thing if Sara had been clad in a sackcloth shift.

"Those bells and shit...that's for us yeah?" Sara asked with a smile plastered upon her face. 

Lydia nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "Yes Sara, those are for us."

"I'm sorry about your mom yeah?" Sara said, putting her arm around Lydia, "I saw that letter yeah?"

"I'm sorry Sara...the things she said about you we're terrible," Lydia said.

"Whut...that I'm common born?  That I'm an elf?" Sara asked, "They're true yeah?  The only thing she was wrong about was me not having a family name...Sara Trevelyn sounds pretty fetch doesn't it yeah?"

Lydia laughed, "It does Sara.  It really does."  She pulled Sara close to her and kissed her, "I think we have some time before our reception.  Why not make the most of it?"

Sara grinned, "My wifey is a saucy lady indeed!"

* * *

"Viscount?!" Lydia exclaimed in disbelief, "They made _you_ the Viscount of Kirkwall?"

"I know!  I couldn't believe it either, but the last few people who had the job kind of ended up super dead...no one wanted the job anymore and I'd spent enough of my own money fixing the harbor that the nobles were like, 'Let's give the dwarf the job,'" Varric said as he sipped a glass of champagne, "Anyway I hear the Ways and Means Committee is gunning for you big time.It's hard to say how this will all play out so I just wanted to let you know not to worry.I've set you up with an estate in Kirkwall so even if you get kicked out of Skyhold you'll have a place to live."

Varric's manservant, who had been standing beside him the entire time, grit his teeth upon hearing this, but held his tongue.

"Varric that's really too kind of you," Lydia said, "Thank you."

"It gets better!" Varric exclaimed, "That estate?It comes with a title!You're officially a contessa in Kirkwall!"

Varric's manservant paled and looked as though he would sick up right there upon the ballroom floor."Sir, you really can't do that.Titles are supposed to be approved by the city council."

Varric waved his hand dismissively, "Bah!  What's the point of being Viscount if you can't abuse your power to lavish gifts on your friends?  Besides, do you really think anyone in Kirkwall is going to get up in arms about the woman who closed the goddamn hole in the sky being given a modest estate and a all but meaningless title?"

"Well, she is from Ostwick sir," said the manservant, "and a lot of people still harbor some ill will toward Ostwick over the incident with your predecessor's smallclothes during his grace's wedding ceremony..."

Again Varric waved his hand dismissively."Anyway there's something else.This is, after all a wedding, so I got you a gift."

"A gift?Varric you really didn't have to."

"Oh I know, but I wanted to.I thought about it as kind of a challenge.What do you get the woman who wants for nothing on the day she marries a woman who steals whatever she wants?"

"I suppose Sara and I are rather difficult to shop for," Lydia remarked.

Varric nodded and produced an ornate, oversized key.It was gold or perhaps merely gold plated an encrusted with gems."This is the key to the city!" Varric said handing Lydia the key, "I wish you and Buttercup all the best."

His manservant's eyes popped out of his skull and he shouted, "Sir you can't give that key away!It controls one of the giant chains in the harbor!"

"For real?" Varric asked.The manservant merely nodded.

"Can I try it out later?" Lydia asked, "I visited Kirkwall with my father once when I was a small girl and always thought those chains in the harbor were the most badass things ever."

But before Varric could reply Cassandra came stalking over.It was clear she had availed herself of the open bar."Varric!There you are!You made me look like an ass!" she shouted, "Telling me Sara and the Inquisitor were going to get married when it was just another one of you friend on friend fan fiction ideas!"

Varric shook his head and said, "You do realize whose wedding reception this is right?I wasn't lying when I told you Buttercup was going to ask the Inquisitor to marry her...or that you talked to Lydia about it before even Sara could."

"I suppose you're right," Cassandra said.She then seemed to notice that Lydia was standing next to her.She drunkenly threw her arms around Lydia in an awkward embrace and bellowed, "My friend!I'm so happy for you and Sara!For all the horrible things we went through in the Inquisition I'm glad that at least you two found each other!"

"Umm...thank you Cassandra.I didn't know you felt that way about Sara and I."

Cassandra abruptly released Lydia and without saying another word to Lydia, turned towards Varric and took him by the hand and said, "Come Varric!We're going to dance!"

Lydia watched as the Seeker dragged a protesting Varric onto the dance floor and laughed.She then noticed Dorian seated at a table and excused herself, bidding farewell to Varric's manservant.

Dorian noticed her approaching and smiled broadly."I believe congratulations are in order Lady Trevelyn.It seems Sara has finally made an honest woman out of you," the Davinter ambassador said as he poured two glasses of wine.He handed one to Lydia.

"Really I should be the one congratulating you, Ambassador Parvus," Lydia said.

Dorian laughed, "Ah yes...Ambassador.  My father's doing...undoubtedly a punishment for my continued interest in the affections of gentlemen.  I'm afraid it's much worse than that though.My father...well, he was assassinated which means I'm now a magister.Can you believe that?Me?A magister!"He laughed again and said, "I suppose it's not so bad...maybe I can finally turn things around in Davinter...at the very least I can hunt down my father's killers and kill the shit out of them.Hell, they're probably the same assholes making Davinter a shitty place to live anyway.Two birds with one stone and all that."

"Dorian, if you need help with anything you know you can always ask.  You know that there are few things that I like more than wrecking house on Davinter suckbags."

Dorian nodded and said, "I know, but I am quite certain you will be busy in the weeks and months to come...possibly with whatever the Inquisition becomes after this hearing...definitely with whatever it is you Sara used to do in that tent when we were camping out in the Woo Woo Woo Plains."

"Baking cookies," Lydia replied with a smirk.

Dorian laughed and raised his glass."A toast is in order then!May you and Sara bake cookies together from now until the end of time!"

"I'll drink to that," Lydia said and clinked glasses with Dorian before downing the wine.

"Ah I almost forgot!" Dorian exclaimed as he put down his glass, "I brought a gift for you." 

He took a black crystalline block the size and shape of a small book from a pocket in his vestments and placed it in Lydia's hand.  Lydia looked at it and said, "It's lovely, but what is it exactly."

"That, my friend, is a Crystal of Sel Yu'lar.Whenever you realize how terribly dull your life is without me you need just place this to your ear and intone 'Can you hear me now?' and wherever I am in Thedas I shall hear you and be able to reply.Now be aware I am a busy man and may not answer my crystal right away but I always will at my earliest convenience."

"Thank you Dorian, I shall treasure it," Lydia said and place the crystal within her handbag.

"Ah here comes your blushing bride!" Dorian exclaimed and then stood, "Sara, my dear girl, come!  Drink with us!  Shall I be forced to call you Mrs. The Inquisitor now?"

"You're funny Dorian.  Sara's fine though yeah...or Lady Sara Trevelyn if you're nasty!"

Lydia looked down and said, "I don't think I'm actually a Lady anymore Sara."

"Not after what we did this afternoon you're not yeah?"

"No, I mean...never mind..."

"Anyway Dorian, I don't mean to be one of those prat wives who won't let their wife talk to a magister or anything but I need to borrow my wifey now yeah?" Sara said.

"Baking cookies I assume?" Dorian replied.

"Nah that'll come after everyone else leaves yeah?  And then she'll come...and then I'll come...and then...he he he," Sara said, "Oh you got my head all thinking about other stuff now...anyway, you see those blokes with the cellos and shit over there?  They're going to play our song next so I kind of need her to dance with me right?"

"But of course!  I shall not delay you any further, Ladies Trevelyn!" Dorian said and bowed slightly.

Sara thanked Dorian and then took Lydia by the hand and walked out onto the dance floor.

"We have a song?" Lydia asked as the orchestra finished playing and the conductor implored everyone to clear the dance floor.

"Yes, we have a song, and no, before you ask it's not that 'Sara is a disagreeable girl,' shite..." Sara replied, "Listen."

Lydia listen as song that was rather popular two years ago in Orleans began to play.  Sara took Lydia by the waist and hand and the two began to dance.  "This is the song that played the last time we were here isn't it?" Lydia asked.   Sara nodded as she led Lydia through the steps.  "Last time you stepped on my feet a lot more," Lydia said as Sara twirled her, "You've been practicing haven't you."

"With Josie yeah...and Cullen," Sara said, "You'd never guess it but he's a really good dancer yeah?  Anyway this is my wedding gift to you yeah...well one of them.  You do so much regular people people stuff for me, I figured if I'm marrying a noble, even one as regular and not nobly as you, I should at least learn to dance like a noble yeah?   You know how this ends right?  The dance I mean...not us...we're not ending.  Not ever."

"Uhh...I remember you trying to catch me and us collapsing in a heap and laughing out on the balcony the last time," Lydia said, "We can just bow if you want.  I mean I don't mind rolling around on the floor with you, but it's probably for the best if we don't."

"No, I want you to jump yeah?  I won't drop you this time..." Sara said, "I promise."

She spun Lydia away, and as the music swelled, Lydia ran back towards Sara, closed her eyes and jumped.  She felt Sara's hand on her hips as her wife hoisted her into the air.  Lydia kept her eyes closed.  She could her Sara's voice, but couldn't make out what she said over the applause of the crowd.  Sara lowered her arms until Lydia's feet touched the dance floor and they embraced.  "I love you Sara," she whispered.

"I love you too Buckles," Sara replied.   She then turned and faced the crowd that had gathered around the dance floor and with a roguish grin bowed.

Lydia followed Sara's example and curtsied demurely and as the guests applauded she whispered to Sara,  "How did you do that?  Catch me, I mean.  I'm not particularly small, and you're not exactly Bull."

Sara smirked and said, "I practiced...like a lot...and besides, you're a lot lighter than Josie, so it wasn't as hard as you think yeah?"

* * *

Lydia could scarcely concentrate as the Feldsparian Bann ranted about how shitty it was that the Inquisition had an army in Feldspar.  She found herself humming her song...her and Sara's song...and doodling hearts on the parchment she was in theory supposed to be taking notes upon.  She was uncertain how much time had actually passed when she realized the Bann was shouting at her.

"Lady Trevelyn!  Please answer the question!  Did the Inquisition take, by force, Fort Badass I in Crestwood or not?" the Feldsparian Bann was shouting.

A Orleansian noble in a stupid face mask said, "Let it be known that Miss Trevelyn's parents, the Lord and Lady Trevelyn, recently succeeded in petitioning to have their youngest daughter removed from the Line of Succession for the Lordship of Ostwick, and the honorific shall 'lady' is no longer appropriate when speaking to Miss Trevelyn."

A cruel smile appeared on the Bann's face as he began, "Miss Trevelyn..."

Josephine was livid and shouted, "Let it also be known that the Inquisitor has been named a contessa by the city-state of Kirkwall, and thus the honorific 'lady,' is still appropriate!"

The smile faded from the Bann's face and he began again, "Fine...Lady Trevelyn, I ask again, did the Inquisition take Fort Badass I by force or not?"

"It wasn't the Inquisition...it's was just the four of us.  Sara, Dorian, Varric, and I."

The Bann looked over some notes and announced, "Let it by noted that Lady Trevelyn has named Dorian Parvus of Davinter, Varric Tethras of Kirkwall, and Sara...ummm...oh, she's common born so no surname...the common born elf, Sara from Maker knows where, and herself, a native of Ostwick in the Free Marches, as the sole invaders of Fort Badass."

Lydia scoffed, "First of all Sara does have a surname...it's Trevelyn, and second of all you act like we went in there and kicked the shit out of King Brodude, First of His Name's Royal Guard and stole the fortress.  Before the Inquisition arrived the fortress was the stronghold of banditos...banditos we forced from Fort Badass and the surrounding areas.  I'd be more than willing to give it back to the banditos if having the Inquisition there was such a terrible thing.  I would like either the returning banditos or the Feldsparian Crown to reimburse us for the repairs we made to the fortress while using it as an outpost in Crestwood, since the entire place was pretty much a crumbling wreck when we got there."

There were gasps from the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and even Josephine looked rather shocked.  The Bann from Feldspar shouted, "Order!  Order!  I will have order!"

As the Bann banged his gavel an elven scout, one of Leliana's people, approached.  Lydia wracked her brain, "What was the scout's codename again?  Gopher?  Squiggles?  Tinky-Winky?  Charter?  Doug Paste?"  She decided to go with "Charter," and asked, "What is it Charter?"

"Leliana found something...said it was urgent milady," the scout said.  Whether or not the scout was actually Charter she did not say, but as quickly as she had arrived she was gone.

Lydia turned to Josephine and whispered, "I gotta go, you can handle this hearing on your own for awhile can't you?"

The Antivan looked flustered and said, "Go?  Go where?  You do realize they're about an hour away from forcing us to relinquish our holdings in Feldspar at the very least."

"It's Inquisition business...Leliana said it's urgent," Lydia stood and walked off.

Behind her she head the Feldsparian Bann cry out, "Lady Trevelyn!  Lady Trevelyn!  Do you think this hearing to be so beneath you that you can just wander off whenever you see fit?  LADY TREVELYN!"

* * *

The corpse of a Qunari warrior was sprawled out in a small bungalow some Inquisition soliders had taken up residence in since arriving at the Winter Palace.  It was clear that the warrior had been knifed.

"There's not enough blood here," Lydia said, "I've fought enough banditos and Davinter suckbags to know that if you stab someone blood gets all over everything.  I mean there's a puddle here from where he bled out, but no splatter."

"I agree.  He must have been stabbed elsewhere and come in here to die," Leliana said, "But why is he here?  A Qunari warrior here in the Winter Palace?  How did he get here?  Is he alone?"

Lydia shrugged, "I'll look into it.  A wound like that, the dude must have left a trail of blood.  Maybe I can at least find how he got in here.  We might want to tell the others though.  I remember something Bull once told Dorian when they were flirting about Qunari being shirtless all the time."

"What's that?"

"That Qunari warriors will fight battles and get in fights topless, because they only put on armor when they go to war," Lydia said, "and that dude there is pretty much armored the fuck up."

"Maybe it would be best to hold off on informing the others of the Qunari threat until we have a better idea of what we're actually dealing with," Leliana said, "No need to unnecessarily scare the delegations from Feldspar or Orleans."

Lydia headed out the side door of the bungalow out into an alleyway.  She noticed the blood right away.  There were drops of it at regular intervals leading up to the wall of the Winter Palace itself.  Looking about, Lydia noticed that several of the carefully trimmed hedges were flecked with blood and seemed to have been trampled, but again, the alleyway did not appear to have been the site of the stabbing.  Lydia scratched her chin and looked up saw a shattered railing and what appeared to be more blood.  She scrambled up a trellis and onto the balcony.  More blood.

Following the trail of blood Lydia came to a storage closet of sorts, its door ajar.  She pushed it open and there, standing in the center of the room was an active eluvian, a trail of blood leading directly to it.  She was going to need backup.


	3. Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series - Part 3

"Are those Qunari going into that other mirror over there?" Dorian asked as in the distance a group of horned soldiers in heavy plate crossed a stone walkway and disappeared into a shimmering mirror at the end of the pathway, "Why are there Qunari creeping about between eluvians?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Lydia replied.

"Well, let's get this done quick then yeah?This shite is nearly as bad as the Fade," Sara said.  She already had an arrow nocked to her bow.  "I swear to Christ if those Qunari shits are up to some rubbish that ruins my honeymoon I am going to arrow the shit out of everyone yeah?"

Lydia nodded and together she and her posse crossed the stone passageway floating over an abyss to the eluvian she had just seen the Qunari warriors enter.In an instant the were transported from the floating stone walkways to a crumbling ruin obviously of Elven make.

Sara sighed in disgust, "Great!Old elfy elf shits...really not how I planned on spending my honeymoon yeah?"

They walked up a short hallway before coming once more to an active eluvian.   "How many of these things are there Boss?" Bull asked as they approached the swirling mists of the mirror.

Lydia shrugged.There had not seemed to be so many active mirrors at the nexus Sideboob had taken her to two years earlier.Most of the mirrors there were broken or otherwise rendered useless for anything more than checking one's hair.

She steeled herself and stepped through the mirror and found herself atop a spire overlooking a verdant valley.Before her were more Qunari, only these ones were totally dead.   A wave of agony suddenly radiated out from her mark causing Lydia to drop to her knees.She felt bile rise in her throat and she tried in vain to swallow it back down but the pain in her hand was too much and she vomited.

"Buckles!Are you alright?" Sara shouted, the concern in her voice genuine.

Lydia rose weakly and said, "I'm fine..." but she doubted anyone believed her.

"You do realize your hand is glowing...like a lot don't you?" Dorian said.

She glanced at her hand and saw that it was indeed glowing far brighter than it ever had before.She grimaced and said, "Really, I'll be fine.We need to find what those Qunari are up to.We can worry about my hand later."

"These ones here," Bull said pointing at the corpses before them, "Look at their eyes and mouths...whatever killed them scared the shit out of 'em first."

"Are these the ones we saw come in here, Bull?" Lydia said wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.  She tried to ignore the throbbing that emanated from the mark. 

"Nah, these ones have different platoon markings then the ones we saw creeping around," Bull replied, "which kind of makes it worse.  I mean one platoon of armored up Qunari warriors is bad enough, but multiple platoons?  That means war."

"Then I guess we should figure out who they're planning on going to war with and stop them," Lydia said as she made her way along the parapet toward yet another active eluvian that she stepped through.  She emerged atop another spire and traveled along the footpath to yet another mirror.  Again and again she repeated this process for a  series of eluvians had been arranged throughout the elven ruins.The mirrors could have, in theory, been sending them to ruins anywhere in Thedas, but Lydia was certain from glimpses of the surrounding land below that they had not once left the ruined fortresses and spires that sprawled across the valley.

"Not a bad way to move troops," Bull said as they emerged from yet another mirror.Sara scowled at him and muttered something about "demon shit."

Bull was right.  The mirrors were an excellent way to move an army from one point to another quickly and without attracting notice but oddly enough up until that point they had seen neither hide nor hair of any living Qunari beyond the small group that was creeping about seemingly one step ahead of them at all times.They had, however, discovered dozens of the recently slain Qunari warriors lacking any discernible wounds.

"I wonder what could have killed them like this," Dorian said, "Even normal magic would have left wounds and structural damage, but these Qunari?It's like they died of...of death?"

"'Normal' magic...yeah?  Ha!  That's a real larf," Sara scoffed and then said, "We all already know what killed them yeah?  So why not just say it?It's demons!  It's always demons innit?I mean even when we think it's not demons it's still demons in the end yeah?"

Dorian shrugged slightly and said, "I suppose a spectral being could slay a living creature without leaving behind wounds that would be obvious to us mortals..."

Another wave of pain surged through her arm but Lydia grit her teeth, not wanting the others to know how much pain she was in, and said, "Come on, let's find those Qunari and figure out what's going on so we can get out of here."  She continued down the walkway towards the next mirror and her companions followed after her, none knowing the pain that radiated through her arm with each step she took. 

They continued along the parapets passing several large frescos depicting the Dread Wolf, Fen Harel.Dorian paused at one such fresco and said, "My Danish is rather rusty and this appears to be an ancient form so I might be misreading it but it seems to being saying that Fen Harel was a terrifying rebel who freed ancient elves from the elven magisters.  Oh wait, this is a list of names here...must be the magisters in question...wait a second..."  The Davinter wizard paused a moment as a look of realization appeared on his face and he gasped, "Holy fucking shit!  These names?  This is a list of the entire pantheon of elven gods!  If this is true then the elven gods...they were just mages!"

Lydia and Bull gasped as well, but Sara cackled with glee.  "So I was right all along then yeah?" she said with a toothy grin etched upon her face, "All those elfy elves who gave me shit for not being sad enough about 'the old gods' were just a bunch of stupid gits worshiping some shitty wizrobes who kept our ancestors as slaves then?I told you it was always demons...even when it shouldn't be."

Lydia nodded and said, "Be that as it may, we need to move.The main thing for now if finding out what those Qunari are up to."

"Right Love.Those elfy elves are going to shit themselves though when we show them this though yeah?"

Sara was right.This knowledge would change much for the elves of Thedas, particular the Danish.  Lydia wondered how had it been that no one had ever come to these ruins before.  How had they remained hidden all this time?  Lydia wondered if perhaps this valley was located in one of the realms beyond the Fade that Sideboob had once spoken of.Perhaps they were no longer on Thedas at all.Lydia held her tongue.There was no need to panic her wife with meaningless speculation.

They passed through yet another eluvian emerging upon a long, stone overpass that spanned the valley below.In the distance Lydia could make out moving forms.  She thought for a moment that they were the Qunari they had been following for they were roughly man shaped, but their movements were strange.  Unnatural.

Lydia and her party moved forward, across the overpass to the spire on the opposite side of the chasm.  They were nearly all the way across before the hovering shapes finally revealed themselves to be demons...or possibly choice spirits depending on who you asked.  Sara moaned, giving voice to her disgust.

"See!" she shouted, "It's always demons yeah?"

The demons, upon hearing this, turned and stared hard at the party of heroes on the overpass.  One of the demons spoke in what Lydia could only assume was Danish.She looked at Dorian in askance since, as far as she knew, he alone had any knowledge of Danish, but he merely shrugged.

"Sara?" Lydia asked, "You catch any of that?"

"You're asking me if I speak that elfy elf language then yeah?  The answer to that is, 'No.  Nope.  No.'  That terrible lady who raised me was as human as you remember?Besides it's just a demon...who cares what it's saying?  We should probably just shoot it with arrows and mage beams and whatever is leaking out of your hand now and be done with it."

"Good point."

The demon said something else in Danish and in spite being unable to speak a single word of it herself, Lydia could tell the demon had become agitated.  She thought to draw her replica elven chopper deluxe, but before she could act, crippling pain swept over her and for once she was not alone.Sara and Bull both collapsed in heaps beside her, both wearing masks of agony.Dorian alone seemed unaffected by whatever the demon had done.   The Davinter wizard intoned ancient words of great power and a beam of wizard shit issued forth from his staff, engulfing the demon in an inferno severing the demon's concentration and causing the spell that assailed them to evaporate.

Lydia rose to her feet, drew her sword and flung herself at the demons.Behind her she heard Sara mutter, "Pile of shitty demons and I've just got a bow and some arrows..."Lydia found herself humming her and Sara's song as she dance a different dance and chopped the demons back to the nothingness from whence they came.  The demons were rough as fuck though and took many sword swipes and an entire quiver of arrows to wreck house on, but their shit was eventually ruined for good.

Through another mirror they went, coming at last to a grand citadel.  Before them rose the sound of a great battle.  Lydia and her companions readied themselves and headed towards the battle to find a crew of Qunari warriors battling more demons/choice spirits.  Luck was not on the side of the Inquisition that day, for upon seeing Lydia and her crew, the two forces who had moments earlier been wrecking house upon each other, both turned their attention towards Lydia.  Qunari spear throwers lobbed spears as choice spirits muttered obscure words and attempted to hex the new interlopers.  The one small bit of luck was that Lydia was able to summon a force field moments before a heap of spears and curses hit her and her friends.

This was a very small bit of good luck, for the very moment her force field was erected, a huge, hulking Qunari Hammer Bro busted into the force field and started wrecking house on Sara.  Lydia was furious and leaped at the Qunari hammer bro brandishing her elite as fuck chopper deluxe.  "Mess with someone who's not not wearing armor you piece of shit!" Lydia shouted as she brought her blade crashing down into the Hammr Bro at the shoulder.

_ Qunari Hammer Bro _

The hammer bro howled as Lydia's chopper deluxe cleaved through his shoulder pads and bit through the bone and muscle beneath.His arm dangled uselessly as blood oozed from the wound.The warrior tried to wield the heavy war hammer with his one remaining arm, but it was too unwieldy to do anything beyond weakly block Lydia's strikes and soon the hammer bro was a corpse.

Others quickly took his place.Screaming Qunari swordsmen rushed forward with faced painted with terrifying designs.The Qunari fought like demons, swords came fast and furious and it took every ounce of skill she had for Lydia to block, parry, or otherwise deflect the onslaught.She was glad Sara was there for a volley of arrows was soon piercing the swordsmen, though Lydia was slightly less enamored by the sound of breaking glass and the swarm of angry wasps and bees that followed soon after.If Lydia escaped without more than a sting or two she would count herself lucky.

Lydia pressed forward slashing at Qunari warriors and demon alike.Sara was beside her; arrows piercing foes out of range of Lydia's sword.Lydia glance to her left to see Bull and Dorian battling another group of Qunari.She wondered how Bull was managing.He always put on a good show of not caring about the other Qunari much in the same way that she told others how much she hated Ostwick.Was Bull as much a liar as she was or did he really have less trouble cutting his kinfolk to ribbons than she would have?

The fighting took Lydia and her party clear across the citadel by the time the last Qunari defender fell.Lydia glance about and saw more frescos.These depicted a great wolf (an artist's representation of Fen Harel undoubtedly) removing facial tats from a long line of elves.

"Dorian can you make sense of any of this?" Lydia asked.

"Hold on a second," Dorian said as he studied the text accompanying the mural, "As far as I can tell it says something like, 'The rebel, Fen Harel, freed the elves from bondage under the false gods and removed from them the mark of ownership."

"Mark of ownership yeah?That word there right?" Sara asked pointing at a single word, "That's elfy elf for 'face tat.'"

Dorian let out a laugh, "So it is!I thought that word looked familiar.The phrase after it is where it describes the face tats as marks of ownership."

Sara laughed as well."That's great yeah.All this time all those elfy elves and wannabe elfy elves heaping shit on me, 'Oi sick tats brah...oh wait you don't have any.You must be some kind of shemp lover Sara,' when really they were just a bunch of bloody idiots putting, 'Property of some wizrobe,' on their foreheads.If I ever go back to the alienage in Denarim or meet another elfy elf I am so going to rub this in peoples' faces you know whut I mean?"

"Uh I don't want to be that guy, but we still haven't found out what those Qunari are planning," the Iron Bull interjected, "and we're pretty much cleared out this citadel of defense."

He was right.They had wrecked house on all the Qunari and had yet to uncover and more about their sinister plot.

"Wait a minute," Dorian said.Lydia turned to look at him and saw a toothy smile appear upon his face."Yes!" Dorian exclaimed with a fist pump of triumph, "I didn't notice it at first but this room?It's an elven push puzzle."

The others all groaned in disgust, but Dorian continued, "No no.They were very popular in Davinter a few years back.I was actually pretty good at them.Just chillax over there and I'll puzzle this one out."

Dorian set to work lighting veilfire torches and pushing buttons while the others leaned against a banister like teens in a suburban town loitering at a shopping mall.

"So how's married life treating you Sara?" Bull asked.

"Right proper yeah?I mean as far as honeymoons go fighting demons and Qunari warlords in a ruined elfy elf fortress thingy is pretty shit, but yeah it's great.It's like really real now you know whut I mean?Like before...I knew Buckles loved me right and she knew I loved her but now it's like official and shit.Some ruffly bloke with a big stamp somewhere stamped a paper that said 'Lydia and Sara forever!' right?Never knew I needed that but I guess I did..."

There was a sudden rumble of stone on stone fanfiction as a statue of a giant puppy slid across the rough stone floor, revealing a staircase.  Dorian gestured with his arms and said, "Ta da!  Shall we descend into the descent?"

"No we already did that once yeah?" Sara said, "Remember with the dwarves and wrong things and uzi dwarves?  I'll climb down those stairs though...after Buckles or Bull of course."

And so the party climbed down the stairs that had moments earlier been hidden with an elven push puzzle.  They found themselves within a hidden armory.  Bull whistled appreciatively, "Someone was ready to go!  There's enough steel here to outfit a small army, and these blades...I mean they're hella old now, but the steel is really good.  Not Qunari make in case you couldn't tell."

Suddenly from the darkness of the secret weapon cache basement there came a great cry and hella Qunari warriors rushed forward, brandishing swords and spears and war hammers.  It was battle time once again.  Lydia and her posse fought it out.  They fought it out hard.  Swords and arrows and beams of wizard shit wrecked house on the Qunari battlers and soon they were all totally dead.  Lydia and friends had emerged victorious.  With the threat neutralized, Lydia If there was some evidence of a larger Qunari plot, it would be down here.   She rummaged through some papers on a war table.  Some where written in Qunariese some were in standard Thedasian English.  The bulk of them seemed to be related to a plan that had been dubbed "Dragon Fire."

"Bull, you know anything about this?" Lydia asked, handing him a document about the quote unquote, "Dragon Fire plan."

The Quanri warrior looked it over and shook his head.  "Sorry Boss, never heard of it.  These guys down here though...they're from the Anti-Magic division of the Qunari army.  They usually find magical things and destroy them.  For them to be using those mirrors and setting up camp in an ancient elven ruin?  It's kind of weird."

"Alright.  We should probably get back to the Winter Palace and give this stuff over to Leliana.  Maybe some of her people will know what this is all about," Lydia replied.

* * *

Leliana looked over the sheets of parchment that Lydia had handed her and then looked up and addressed Lydia. "The Qunari are up to something, that much is clear, but what that is precisely I'm not entirely sure.  I'll send pigeons to some of my people out in Pol Vollen and see if they've heard anything.  In the meanwhile we should try to keep this quiet for the time being.  No need to worry the Ways & Means committee before we know what we're actually dealing with.  In the meanwhile, perhaps you could investigate that eluvian some more.  I heard from Dorian that several other mirrors could be seen from the central hub.  Perhaps one of them may hold the answers we are looking for."

Lydia nodded in agreement and at that moment, Josephine came stomping into the room.  "There you are!" she shouted, "I can't believe you left me there alone with the Senate Ways & Means Committee.  They were furious, and rightfully so, that you just got up and walked out of the hearing.  You do realize that the entire Inquisition is at stake right?"

"I know Josie," Lydia said, "It's just well, there was dead Qunari warrior and we may have uncovered a Qunari invasion plan...and all that stuff is the reason I'm in the Inquisition at all.  I don't care about the politicking or the Great Game or any of that stuff.  I only ever wanted to find problems and solve them.  Bickering about whether or not we should have left Fort Badass I in the hands of banditos or how much we should owe in back taxes is really not something I want to do when there's trouble a brewin'.  And now, there may be a heap of trouble a brewin'.  Qunari invasion-sized trouble.  So I'm asking you, Lady Josephine Montilyet, please take care of the hearing for me.  That is what you're good at.  Me?  I'm good at chopping up demons and banditos with a sword...and according to Sara making cookies.  Neither of those skills really help with a Senate hearing though."

"Very well," Josephine said with a sigh, "I'll do my best, but what shall I tell the Senators regarding your absence?  They will ask you know."

Lydia scratched her chin a moment and then grimaced as her arm throbbed in agony.  "My mark...tell them my mark has been behaving erratically and I am convalescing," she said.  It wasn't a complete lie.  Her mark was behaving strangely, and had it not been for the Qunari army looming somewhere out there or the stupid Senate hearing, she probably would have been abed.

Josephine nodded. "That will suffice I believe.  Most of the Senators are already rather wary of magic and thus few would be inclined to even pay you a visit," she said and then nodded again and said, "Alright, I can do this.  I have dealt with far worse situations than this...I can get through one small Senate hearing...alone...by myself...I'm going to go have a drink..."   Josephine walked off towards the dining hall still mumbling to herself.

"It's true isn't it?" Leliana said, "Your arm bothers you now does it not?"

Lydia nodded and then asked, "How did you know?"

"I am a spymaster aren't I?  Honestly, I heard from  Sara.  She saw your arm and was worried about you and before we left Skyhold came to me and told me that it now looks far worse than it once did," Leliana said, "She asked me to have some of my people look into what was happening to you and to see if there was anyway to stop it from getting worse."

"Is there?  A way to stop it from getting worse that is."

Leliana shook her head.  "I'm sorry.  So far there have been none that any of my people have been able to uncover.  Some mages I know to be trustworthy, circle mages and free, are looking into the matter as well, but their research will unfortunately take some time.  It is most unfortunate that the both Solas and Sideboob left the Inquisition so soon after the fall of Coprophilia.  Between the two of them, perhaps a solution could have been revealed."

"Thank you Leliana.  Whatever happens I want you to know you've been a good friend," Lydia said.

"I should say the same to you.  I sometimes think about the type of person I could have become had it not been for you and honestly it is somewhat frightening.  Honestly I kind of hope the committee moves to disband us.  I'd like to go with my dear Odette...travel with her.  Maybe settle down somewhere and raise nugs."

"That sounds nice."

"What about you?  What do you want to happen?" Leliana asked.

"I want to go home too.  I want to go back to having a normal life...one where the worst thing I have to worry about is my mother being a horrible person.  You know instead of trying to prevent the entire world from ending?"

Leliana laughed, "That would be a nice change of pace now wouldn't it, but unfortunately for us, it will have to wait a few days more at least.  I must message some of my people about this.  Please excuse me."

"Of course," Lydia said and Leliana made her way off to the pigeon pens on the roof.  Lydia followed suit and made her way from the warroom up to the apartments that had been arranged for her and Sara.  She walked in, expecting to see her wife jumping on the bed or throwing knives at the painting of some long dead Orleans lord that hung on the wall, but instead found her sitting crosslegged on the bed, scribbling something in her diary, with tears misting her large eyes.

"Sara!" Lydia exclaimed, "What's wrong?"

Sara looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and said, "You yeah?  Your arm is getting worse and worse.  I mean look at it yeah?  It looks like spiders and shit all up your arm now.  Covering it with a sleeve isn't going to make it go away..."  She began to weep in earnest.  "I don't want you to die Buckles okay.  When I met you in that rich prat's house back in Orleans I thought maybe I'd stick around a bit and help you fix things and then go back with the Jennys, but now?  Why did you make me love you yeah?"

Lydia felt her own tears, warm and salty, roll down her cheeks and she sat down on the bed beside Sara and hugged her.  "Sara I'm sorry I worried you.  Leliana's people are looking into it.  If there's a way to stop this mark from spreading I promise you I will find it.  I don't want to leave you either.  You are the best thing to happen to me ever."

Sara sniffled and asked, "Why does love make me so sad yeah?  This was a lot easier when it was just rubbing bits together."

Lydia began to laugh and soon Sara joined her.  They kissed and Lydia hoped that someone more knowledgeable about ancient elven artifacts than she was would find a way to stop whatever was happening to her arm before it killed her.


	4. Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series - Part 4

The road was deep, oh so deep.  The had come across another group of Qunari warriors creeping low and nasty in that central hub of eluvians and followed them into yet another active mirror, one that had deposited them in a chunk of Deep Roads somewhere in Thedas, though where precisely that was, no one could guess.

"First some old elfy shits now some old dwarfy shits...what's next old human shits?" Sara asked as they made their way through the darkened tunnels of the Deep Roads.

Lydia's forearm suddenly flared, illuminating the inky darkness of the tunnel that stretched out before them.  She felt her knees buckle and her stomach lurch but, Lydia fought the urge to collapse and curl up in the fetal position.  "Don't let Sara see you hurt or scared," Lydia thought to herself as the sick green glow blazed from her arm.  "Finally this thing is coming in handy again," she said weakly.

"That really can't be good for you can it?" Dorian asked, "I could write Maevaris and have her search the libraries Minrathus for some ancient elven texts my ancestors looted.  Perhaps they inadvertently looted something about what to do if you accidentally get an anchor affixed to your hand."

"It's okay Dorian," Lydia lied, "I'm fine.  Let's hurry up and see what those damned Qunari are up to...uh...no offense Bull."

"None taken Boss.  I'm not really a Qunari anymore anyway right?" Bull said.

Lydia and her crew set off again down the tunnel, the glowing green shit emanating from her hand and forearm cast a sickly glow upon the halls of the long forgotten dwarven thoroughfare.  Lydia and her friends saw their shadows stretch and deform upon the walls as they made their way deeper into the unknown.

A sudden blast reverberated through the halls, shaking Lydia and her companions and causing loose bits of rubble to shower down from the ceiling.An acrid odor wafted towards them from further down the passageway.

"Gatlock," Bull said, "Our boys are down here alright but what they could possibly be doing down here that they'd need gatlock for I can't even guess."

"Nothing good I'd assume," Dorian said and Lydia nodded in agreement.

Sara put her hands upon her hips and said, "So we're all just gonna pretend we know what the shit gatlock is then yeah?"

Bull chuckled, "I'd have expected you of all people to know what gatlock is.It's Qunari explosive.Best shit in all of Thedas!Sure some dwarves might tell you their stuff's better but they're lying.Really though I can't imagine what they'd be doing with it down here. It's too risky.There's really no way to know how much any one pile of rock is holding up down in these tunnels to chance using gatlock for clearing paths."

"Well let's go stop 'em then yeah?We're all still heroes and shit right?Isn't this what heroes are supposed to do?" Sara asked readying her bow.

"Sara's right, let's move.If they're blasting stuff that could collapse this tunnel I really don't want to waste time chatting," Lydia said and then continued down the tunnel.

Several moments later they came to a place where one wall of the tunnel opened up revealing a chasm that led to the lower levels of the Deep Roads.  Down in the depths of the Deep Roads Lydia could make out Qunari scurrying about.

"Everyone looks like ants down there," Sara opined.

Lydia glanced at her and with a wink said, "You like ants," causing Sara to grin broadly.

Bull made a noise of disgust and muttered, "They're setting charges directly into the rock...they're not even clearing rubble.What the Christ are they doing down there?"

"There," Dorian said pointing down into the abyss, "Look!Lyrium...a pretty sizable vein by the looks of it."

"That can't be it," Bull said, "That shit's totally banned in Pol Vallen.The Qunari opinion of magic...it makes Sara look like a mage sympathizer."

"Hey!" shouted Sara and Bull shrugged in that "I'm not even sorry for what I just said," manner that only a Qunari that gave absolutely zero fucks could.

Lydia watched as the Qunari placed a pair of kegs snug up against the lyrium vein and then unreeled a length of fuse from a spool.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Dorian exclaimed as one of the Qunari below touched a torch to the fuse with a shower of sparks, "They're not really blowing that shit up there are they?!Do they have any idea how unstable raw lyrium is?!  This entire place could go up in a goddamn inferno!"

Lydia watched the fuse burn closer to the kegs and felt Sara's hand grip her own."You and me together until the end yeah?" Sara whispered.

"Until the end," Lydia replied as a  deafening blast echoed through the Deep Roads.  Below them the kegs of blasting powder exploded with a flash.Lydia felt the floor shake and smelled the foul smoke that accompanied a gatlock explosion, but she was alive and most fortunately not crushed under a pile of rubble.

When the smoke cleared she looked down into the pit and could see the Qunari below were already moving additional powder kegs into place.

"Persistent aren't they?" she said, "We're going to need to find a way down there.Whatever they're trying to do down there we can't let them continue.Maker knows where we even are or what's overhead.  The could blow up those kegs and cause all of Denerim to fall into a crevasse for all we know, so let's move it move it people!"

A short way further down the passage they came to the crumbled ruins of a staircase that was quite obviously once a grand example of dwarven workmanship.Though it was in horrible disrepair it was not so far gone as to be unsafe.  Down the stairs they went, Lydia's hand blazing like a lantern in the murky darkness.At the foot of the stairs there was another short passageway littered with rubble and assort debris from centuries of disuse.They came, after a time, to a door.  That a door could have survived in tact all that time impressed Lydia.The dwarves of Thedas truly were master builders.She turned the handle and pushed the heavy door open.

"I'll kill you!I swear to god I will!" a man's voice cried out from the darkness.

At the other end of a small room Lydia saw a man, human, clad in grimy clothes, his hair a greasy mess that hung in his eyes.The man already had his sword drawn and from her time spent shooting up in Ser's hovel Lydia recognized it as a Templar blade.  The man looked her and lowered his sword, breathing a sigh of relief, "Oh thank the Maker...you're not those damned Qunari!"

At that moment Bull entered the room and the man once more readied his sword.Bull smirked, "Easy mang we're after those Qunari out there.We've got no quarrel with you."

The man lowered his sword slightly and said, "Good good.They're crazy you know.Trying to get that lyrium out to give to the sarabas.I told them that they couldn't handle the raw stuff themselves but they wouldn't listen and then when they started talking about attacking Orleans and shit I knew I couldn't stay, so I hauled ass and hid in here."

"You're Qunari?!" Bull roared.

"Well...was is probably more accurate now, but yeah.There's a lot of us attached to this operation.Mostly scouts...lots of elves some humans.I got dragged along because they thought I'd know something about lyrium on account of being a Templar," the man said brushing a greasy lock from his face.

"This mission...what is it exactly?" Lydia asked.

"An all out invasion," the greasy Templar said.

"What do you know about Dragon Fire?" Lydia asked.

"Not much.I've heard them talk about it.It sounds like lyriumed up sarabas are a big part of it...the main part of it from the sound of it," the Templar replied.

Bull crossed his arms over his broad chest and said, "If we wreck house on the the gatlock they've got stored here...maybe collapse a tunnel we might be able to slow them down a bit...give us time to look into this invasion."

"It's a good plan Bull," Lydia said, and the turned to the one time Templar and said, "You should get outta here mang things are more likely than not going to go to shit."

The Templar nodded and ran off.Bull watched him go and then turned his gaze upon Lydia and scowled disapprovingly before saying, "Come on Boss...there should be a supply depot down here somewhere.We find it.We blow it up.We get out and see what Red's turned up."

The path to the makeshift supply depot was fraught with fighting it out.Qunari warriors and Qunari workmen alike harried them every step of the way and by the time Lydia and her party had made their way to the crumbling dwarven hall serving as a warehouse a sizable group of Qunari defenders had assembled.   Lydia was not particularly surprised to see the mass of Qunari on hand to defend the warehouse as the fighting from the Templar's hideout to the depot had been incredibly loud with explosions and screams of Qunari burning to death.She readied her chopper deluxe and charged forward, cutting down a particularly brutish looking Qunari hammer bro as she entered the scrum.

She slashed and parried.Spun and twirled.There was an artistic elegance to the destruction she wove.The walls of the once great dwarven hall were an artist's canvas and Qunari blood her paint.  Lydia soon realized she was standing in a heap of dead Qunari.The battle was over.

"So we just blow this gatlock and get the hell out of here," Bull said, "I don't know what's going to happen when this shit goes up, so if we all die I just wanted you all to know kicking ass with you three has been a blast."

"Can I light it?" Sara asked, her eyes twinkling mischievously, "It'd be a shame to die in a matlock explosion that I had balls all to do with yeah?"

Bull shrugged and handed Sara the spool.She walked it out of the ruined dwarven hall with Dorian, Bull and Lydia following close behind.

"You know how to make this stuff yeah?" Sara asked Bull, "I mean usually pies and bees are good enough, but sometimes if some nobly noble's a big enough douche, something like this could come in handy."   Bull shook his head and Sara pouted."Too bad yeah?"

"This should be far enough," Bull said, "After you light it get behind these rocks and cover your head like this," and demonstrated to Sara how she was to position her hands.

Sara laughed, "Sucks to that yeah?I wanna see it right?Can't be any worse than any of the dozen or so dragons we killed right?Or Caripalus...he was all 'Rarrr here's a castle chunk for yer head yeah!'Remember that?"

Bull sighed and mumbled, "Just be careful alright.You don't want to leave the Boss widowed do you?"

"Nah.I'll be fine.Dorian gimme that torch then," Sara said, grabbing the torch out of Dorian's hand.

"Eat it!" she bellowed as she touched the torch to the fuse.The end of the fuse sparked and hissed."Eat it...eat it..." Sara whispered to herself as the spark traveled the length of the fuse and disappeared in the ruined dwarven hall.

Bull crouched down behind a boulder and covered the back of his head with his arms.Lydia and Dorian followed suit, but Sara stared at the depot, an impish grin on her face."Eat it..."

There was a great roar as the gatlock exploded, turning the ruined dwarven hall to ask and rubble.A great wave of heat washed over the party as the building crumbled before them.Sara bounced with glee and shouted, "Ate it!Ate it!"

"Shhh..." Lydia whispered, "What's that sound?"

The was a noise like the sound of eggs cracking.Faint at first the noise grew louder and louder, and then Lydia saw the source: the cave walls around the depot were covered with spiderwebs of cracks that were growing larger by the moment.Chunks of the walls began to fall away plummeting to the ground below.

"That doesn't seem good does it?" Lydia said, "We should probably beat a hasty retreat."

The others agreed and as the stood to leave the situation went from bad to Michael Bay movie.Water began streaming in from the crumbling walls at a rapid speed.Quickly covering the floor of the cavern.

"We must have hit an aquifer or a water main or something," Dorian offered as water continued to pour in.

The water was up the her knees by the time Lydia was able to scramble up onto some scaffolding the Qunari had erected and out of the sizable lake that was forming.Qunari clad in workman worksuits and wielding spanners and pry bars had apparently heard the blast and had come running.The were quickly dispatched by the heroes of the Inquisition.Still the water continued to rise.

"We gotta keep moving," Bull said.

They went back up toward the mirror, fighting it out with stray workmen and soldiers as they went.The tunnels continued to fill with water.The lower levels were undoubtedly completely flooded by this point and Lydia wondered if perhaps they had broken into the underground ocean they had seen in the Deepest Deep Roads with Vorta before she turned in a Titan or whatever the shit had happened down there.

"There's the elfloovian yeah?" Sara said pointing to the shimmering form in the distance.

A body lie before it in a puddle of blood.It was the Templar from before, a wicked Qunari stabber buried deep in his back."The Qunari don'tfuck around," Lydia thought to herself and stepped through the mirror.

* * *

Leliana looked concerned as Lydia explained what they had seen in the Deep Roads.Seeing her look that way made Lydia more nervous.Whenever Lydia discovered something before Leliana or her agents had uncovered it, it was never something good.

"Lyriumed up Qunari mages with access to eluvians?" she said at last, "This is perhaps worse than I thought.My agents haven't uncovered evidence of any Qunari plots beyond what you've uncovered here...and of course the low level sort in Davinter...but that's Davinter...there are always Qunari plots in Davinter."

Before Lydia could reply there was a knockat the door and an Inquisition footman entered.He saluted quickly and said, "Lady Inquisitor.Lady Leilana.There's been a fight.One of ours and some Orleansian noble's servant.The noble's pretty furious and screaming aboutjustice."

"What of the Inquisition soldier?" Lydia asked, "Did they say what provoked the fight?"

"She didn't say much.Just told us to fetch you," the soldier said pointing to Leliana, "She's one of yours I think.Usually when these things happen it's on a count of ale or wicked grace or women, but neither of the two seemed to be drunk...or womanizing cardsharps for that matter."

Leliana nodded to the soldier and then asked Lydia, "Shall we?"

* * *

A pair of elf ladies were being held apart by Inquisition soldiers and Orleansian guardsmen when Lydia and Leliana arrived on the scene.  An Orleansian nobleman caught sight of Lydia and accosted her instantly, "I demand justice!  Your soldiers are out of control!  This one here assaulted one of my own servants as she was merely going about her duties!  Justice I say!  Justice!"

Lydia sighed and looked at the Inquisition scout.  She didn't really recognize her, but Leliana seemed to.  "What's going on here soldier?" Lydia asked the elf in the Inquisition uniform.

"See this barrel here?" the scout said pointing to an overturned barrel a few feet away, "She was trying to bring this into the castle."

The Orleansian noble seethed with anger and shouted, "She is a servant...it is her duty to bring kegs of ale into the palace.  For you to lay hands upon her in such a fashion!  I hope this accursed Inquisition is forced to disband at the end of this hearing.  You have clearly gone mad with power!"

"That's not ale in the keg," the Inquisition scout said, "It's gatlock...Qunari blasting powder!"

The assembled crowd gasped in shock at the shocking revelation.

 


	5. Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series - Part 5

Josephine Montilyet was livid, no, furious.She was furious.She stared at two women she had thought were her friends...two women she had, at times, considered giving her most precious gift to.

"Our one chance to get through these hearings with the Inquisition intact was to play the Feldsparians against the Orleansians, but that's no longer an option thanks to you two...and probably Cullen.Where is that accursed man anyway?"

"He was out by the spa playing with a dog...a really sweet Mabari war hound name Dirk or Dusty...I can't really remember," Lydia offered.

The smirk on the Inquisitor's face stoked Josephine's anger anew and she spat, "I didn't ask anything about a dog!The Orleansians are furious that you not only covered up the dead Qunari but also this Dragon Fire plot."

"Okay, we probably should have given them the heads up about the dead Qunari axe battler we found in their garden," Lydia said, "But in our defense we really didn't know what Dragon Fire was besides a badass name for a power metal band...I mean we still don't really.I thought it had something to do with lyriumed up Qunari wizards, but after that little discovery out in the courtyard I guess maybe gatlock is involved."

"Gatlock that apparently we brought into Orleans!" Josephine shouted.The discovery that the barrel in question had been brought into Orleans by the Inquisition itself had turned an already uneasy situation into outright conflict.It had taken all Josephine's skills as a diplomat to stop the Orleansians from walking out of the hearings and leaving the fate of the Inquisition up to the dog lords of Feldspar.

Leliana cast her eyes downward and muttered, "We are still looking into how the gatlock was added to our supply train without anyone noticing."

"Are you talking?Why are you talking?" Josephine asked, her tone dripping with seething anger.She sighed and then continued, "I will try to smooth things over with Orleansians.You two, solve this shit."Josephine then turned on her heels and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her as she went.

"I guess I'm going back into a mirror," Lydia said in disgust, "Can we just run away?Head out west?I'd be more than willing to help your girlfriend find a cure for being a Grey Warden."

Leliana smirked and said, "No, our place is here for now.It's the Maker's will."

Lydia sighed and said, "Well it's Lydia's will to wash her hands of this entire thing and run away and become a Red Jenny with her wife."

"Unfortunately the Maker's will trumps yours."

Lydia sighed, "Oh alright...I'll go get Sara and the others."

* * *

"It's most convenient the way these Qunari activate new eluvians precisely when we require them," Dorian said as he emerged from yet another magical mirror.

Towering bookshelves filled with ancient tomes lined the walls of a crumbling structure.Undoubtedly a library of some sort.

Sara moaned as if she was about to vomit, "Fuuuuuck..."

"Sara are you okay?" Lydia asked and turned to see her wife but instantly knew what had come over Sara, for floating before her was a spirit or demon or something speaking to her in what sounded kind of like Danish.

"Listen you stupid wrong thing, I only speak regular people people language okay?Do I look like an elfy elf to you?" Sara said.

"A thousand pardons da'len.Ages ago I would have know that you, for whatever reason, did not speak the tongue of your people, but since the Veil severed the Fade from the Waking World I have lost much of what was once known."

Sara scowled, and muttered, "I don't even know why we're talking to this wrong thing.We just need to find those stupid Qunari so we can stop them from exploding everything yeah?"

"Wait did you say since the Veil severed the Fade from our world?" Dorian asked, his mouth agape, "You mean they weren't always separate?"

The spirit appeared to nod, "That is correct, da'mustachio.The Fade and the Waking World were once one and the same...until Fen Harel!Oh this place was once a marvel to behold!A repository for all there was to know, and I...we...knew all, but now...it's just fragments."

"Yuck.Could you imagine a world where it's all Fadey shits all the time?" Sara interjected, "It'd be right terrible yeah?If I ever meet this Fen Harel guy I'm buying him a beer, you know, 'Thanks for keeping all the Fadey shits out of my face yeah?'"

The spirit seemed saddened by what Sara had said."Your words are like a knife da'len, though you are not so cruel as the others."

"The others?Qunari?" Lydia asked.

"Yes...that is what they are known as. Terrible they were.They asked after a certain text and after I...we...led them to it, the Qunari attacked me...us...without cause.They went deeper into the library, though what they seek I know not."

"We will stop them.Which way did they go?" Lydia said to the spirit.The spirit motioned towards a walkway and then Lydia turned to her companions and said, "Regulators!Mount up!"

She and her companions headed in direction indicated by the spirit and several Elven push puzzles expertly puzzled out by Dorian and one battle against a demonic horde later the party found themselves in a large amphitheater.At the far end, upon a stage that once undoubtedly played host to performances of My Fair Lady and Hello Dolly, stood a host of Qunari and behind them an active eluvian.

"My bits..." Sara mumbled weakly as she stared dumbly up at the stage, "...so moist..."

Lydia glanced up to see what had so stirred her wife's loins to see a strapping Qunari woman with an ancient tome of forgotten lore tied to her single samurai shoulder armor deal.  "Oh for god's sake..." Lydia muttered to herself.  Sara would probably ask her to wear the antlers again that night...if, of course, they got out of this sticky situation in one piece.

"Oh fuck...it's the Viddasala," Bull said as he too noticed the stalwart looking Qunari woman standing upon the stage, "She'll be the one behind all this shit then.We're boned."

The woman caught sight of them and in a booming voice shouted, "At last I come face to face with the Inquisitor!The one responsible for the vile corruption that continues to infect Thedas.It matters little, for soon all your leaders will be dead and all of Thedas shall be brought under the Qun.In fact we'd have already succeeded if not for your ally, Fen Harel's, agents.Oh how irksome they've been!Well it matters little. I have what I needed from this place, and you'll die here.Kill them!"

Sara's lip quivered and she mumbled, "So fit..." as the Viddasala stepped into the twirling mists of the mirror and vanished.

Lydia sighed at her wife and readied her replica elven chopper deluxe for the onslaught of Qunari axe battlers, wizrobes, and spear stabblers charged forward in Qunari battle formation F-124.She charged forward to met them head on with a clash of steel upon steel.

"That arse..." Sara whispered dreamily as a Qunari spear whizzed past her dome and freed her from the trance the Viddasala's ass had put her in.She shouted, "Oi you wankers are trying to kill me?Trying to kill Buckles?Sucks to that yeah?"She drew her bow to full releasing an arrow that went clean through the head of a Qunari wizrobe.

The battle was short and relatively sweet with Lydia and her crew of stone cold badasses emerging victorious.A spirit suddenly appeared.It was possibly the same one from earlier but could have been a separate deal that some how shared knowledge with the previous spirit.

"You did well in wrecking house on those Qunari.Already some of my connections with the others of myself have begun to be restored," the spirit said, "And so I shall aid you in finding that which you seek.The Qunari have returned to the Dave-a-rad.To travel there you shall need this keystone and must speak friend and enter."

 

_A keystone light..._

Dorian took the keystone from the spirit and smirked and said, "Man that's like a one star difficulty Elf puzzle.We just have to say the elven word for friend to activate the stone."

The spirit nodded and then did some spirit shit to raise a bridge.At the end of the bridge was yet another eluvian.This shall take you back to your people.Speak with them before you enter the Dave-a-rad.Make you peace with them for I do not know the outcome of what you seek to do and fear it may not turn out well for you."

Lydia thanked the spirit and walked down then length of the bridge and stepped into the mirror, emerging in the Winter Palace.

* * *

Lydia's arm screamed in agony as she sat listening to Leliana, Cullen, and Josephine bicker.Additional kegs of gatlock had been discovered in Denerim, Minrathus, and several of the Free Marches, including her parents' estates in Ostwick, but Lydia could not concentrate on the details beyond that.The pain was too much to bear.  Josephine was saying something about the Inquisition being as corrupt as the organizations it had originally sought to police but Lydia could not hear her.All she could focus on was the pain that surged through her arm.  Cullen was remarkably quiet, a look of concern upon his face.  Lydia was trying to focus on his glorious hair to take her mind off the pain, but even the balm that was Cullen's golden locks proved insufficient.

A blast of neon green shit exploded from her arm and Lydia screamed out, "FUCK!!!Cullen get your sword and just cut this fucking thing off!!!"

Her advisers stood and stared at her dumbfounded a moment as Lydia regained her composure."Leliana have your people alert the various heads of state about this plot.Josephine take care of the Orleansians and Feldsparians.Cullen, after I go through, I want all our forces standing on guard on that stupid mirror.Any Qunari that comes through besides Bull...kill them."

They nodded and headed off to attend to their tasks."Leliana.A moment," Lydia said.The bard stopped and turned towards her.

"Yes?"

Lydia handed her a letter."When you send word to Ostwick about the gatlock, send this with your runner as well.Please make sure my mother gets it."

Leliana took the letter and placed it in her pocket."I understand.Is there anything else?"

"Just...just...make sure that Sara is alright...whatever happens to me.  She can take care of herself...she always has, but promise me you'll look after her and keep her out of too much trouble...I don't want her to...just promise me," Lydia said.Her face felt hot and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

The redheaded bard took her by her good hand and said, "I will make sure she's given a proper outlet for her specific talents."

"I should go," Lydia said wiping away the tears, "I've got an invasion to stop."

* * *

Dorian had smugly spoken, "Friend," in ancient Elven, activating the eluvian, and thus the party found themselves about to enter the mirror that would take the to the Dave-a-rad, the Qunari stronghold.

Lydia looked towards her companions and said, "Dorian.Bull.It's been a pleasure to travel with you.If you had told me three years ago that I would count a Qunari mercenary and a Davinter mage among my dearest friends I would have laughed and yet here we are.  There are no two finer gentlemen I would wish to drink, gamble or save the world with.  I thank you both for being such good friends to me in the short time we have known each other."

"Boss, don't talk like that.We've gotten through rougher patches than this," Bull said.

"Yeah, don't talk like that right?Sounds like you're saying goodbye yeah?I don't really do goodbyes..." Sara said.

Lydia took her hand and said, "Sara, whatever happens know that I will always love you...more than anything."

"Don't say that Lydia Trevelyn!" Sara said, "Don't tell me goodbye like you're going to go throw away your life to be a hero yeah?Sucks to those other people yeah?  Bunch of nobly nobles and shite.  Let them get another hero yeah?  Get Leliana's warden or that Hawke chick who was always eyeing my arse to do it...you belong to me now you know yeah?"

Lydia smiled, "I know Sara.I know."She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and embraced Sara and kissed her.Lydia kissed her wife as if it was the last time they would kiss, for she was certain that was the case.When the kiss finally ended she turned towards Bull and Dorian and said, "Come on.We've gotta stop these Qunari from wrecking house on Thedas!"

She stepped through the mirror...


	6. Trespasser: A Dragon Age Mini-Series - Part 6

_Agony! Flash! Screams!_

"God please just make this stop..." Lydia thought to herself as pain radiated through her arm.  There was a buzzing in her ears that sounded like one of Sara's jars of bees.  It was an angry sound; one that matched the excruciating pain in her arm.  The agony was nearly continuous now, and she howled as it tore through her body again.  The mark, whatever it was, was rebelling against her body, and it's act of rebellion was killing her.  The green light that had once saved Thedas grew in intensity, engulfing her arm.  Lydia was certain she was going to die, but needed to stop that awful Qunari woman, the Viddasala, before she did.

_Agony! Flash! Screams!_

The pain that tore through her arm was nearly continuous as Lydia chased the Viddasala through even more elven ruins.The Dragon Fire plan had been revealed to be literal fire from a literal dragon.Coprophilia's actions had proven to the Qunari that the free people of Thedas were apparently unable to live without the Qun...but Lydia and her crew of stone cold badasses put the kibosh on the planned invasion with a few well placed sword swings before anything could come of it.With her plan in shambles the Viddasala had fled into a mirror but not before accusing the Inquisition of working for Fen Harel.

_Agony! Flash! Screams!_

"Your man Solas is an agent of Fen Harel," the Viddasala had spat, "He is the one responsible for Coprophilia obtaining the orb that was used to open the rift...and now we know where he is."  Lydia remembered the feeling of betrayal that came over her upon hearing of Solas; remembered vowing to get to Solas before Viddasala could, so she could kill him herself.It was Solas' fault her hand had been slowly killing her for the past three years.  She could feel another blast of neon green shit building beneath her skin and prayed that she only lived long enough to kill that bald headed son of a bitch herself, but what if he knew a way.  A way to stop the pain.  He had known a lot about ancient elven stuff, maybe this was not beyond his skill.  The pain was becoming unbearable.

_Agony! Flash! Screams!_

Her thoughts went to Sara.  How much would Sara suffer because of her?  It had been unfair of her to get involved with Sara in the first place.  Sara had been such a carefree spirit before they'd met one another, and Lydia had ruined that.  Another flash ripped through her arm sending Qunari warriors careening through the air, their bodies twisted and shattered.  She thought she heard Sara make a joke about not wanting Lydia to finger her anymore, but Lydia could tell the jokes were an attempt at masking her fear.

_Agony! Flash!  Screams!_

Was she being carried?  She was.  She was draped across Bull's broad shoulder like a sack of grain...or a small child.  From her position, slung over Bull's shoulder, she could see Sara and Dorian's faces, both worried.  She moved her lips, tongue against teeth, "I'm okay...really...I can walk by myself..."  No one believed her.  She didn't believe herself, but Bull put her down anyway.  There was another mirror before her.  Lydia prayed it was the last one.  She leaned on Sara and stumbled.  Sara swore and stepped into the whirling mists of the mirror.

They emerged in a clearing.  The buzzing in Lydia's ears had grown to a roar that deafened her.  The Viddasala stood before her, and though Lydia could see her lips moving she could not make out what was being said.  The woman and a coterie of Qunari axe battlers moved towards yet another mirror and Lydia took a step to follow after her, but an overlarge Qunari mage leaped down from a ledge and blocked her path.  Lydia brought her replica elven chopper deluxe up to chopfuck the shit out of the sarabas, but instead fell to her knees and howled as death erupted from her arm.

_Agony! Flash!  Screams!_

The torso and head of the Qunari mage had been completely disintegrated leaving the wizard's legs in a puddle of gore before her.  Lydia rose slowly.  Dorian said something to her, but Lydia could not hear anything beside the terrible roar that screamed in her ears.  Sara hugged her, her cheeks slick with tears, but Lydia pushed her away and pointed at the puddle of gore that had once been the sarabas.  Bull understood and grabbed the tiny elf in his 24 inch pythons.  "I'm sorry," Lydia said, "Sara...I'm sorry..."

Lydia felt the magic building in her arm once again and she was certain that the next discharge would kill her.  She repeated herself, "Sara, I'm sorry," and with the last bit of strength that remained in her ravaged body, Lydia Trevelyn sprinted across the clearing and passed through the mirror.  

She emerged from the mirror and collapsed.  Lydia's thoughts went to Sara as she waited for an explosion that never came.  After a moment, Lydia sat up and realized that the pain had subsided.  Her arm still crackled with magic, but the pain was, at least for the moment, gone.  Lydia stood slowly, and looked around, all around the mirror were statues...of Qunari.  No, not statues, the Viddasala and her people, somehow turned to stone.  Lydia walked past them, up a staircase, and there, standing before yet another eluvian was Solas, clad in the finery of an ancient elf, rather than his usual shoeless hobo gear he sported.

"You!" Lydia shouted in rage, she moved for her sword, but in an instant a wave of pain shot through her arm, dropping her to her knees.She would not cry.Not in front of him."You did this to me...my arm...this is your fault."

"Yes.It was indeed one of my myriad mistakes that led you to where you now stand...one of my lesser mistakes to be certain, but one for which I am nonetheless sorry," Solas said rather matter of factly.

"You sold us all out Solas...doomed me to an early death, and for what?For the glory of some long dead elven god?For Fen Harel?"

The bald headed elf laughed haughtily."It seems you have been rather woefully misinformed my friend.I don't not work for Fen Harel.  It would be quite humorous for me to somehow be in His employ, for I am Fen Harel."

Lydia did not know whether to laugh or howl in despair."Then why?Why all of this?"

"As I said, to rectify my mistakes," Solas said, "I thought that Coprophilia would activate my orb thus restoring to me my powers while he himself would die in the process and thus had my agents assist him in discovering the orb.I had not expected him learn the secrets of the orb and survive, but when he did I realized it was my responsibility to stop him, and so I joined the Inquisition before it even was the Inquisition.When you were discovered with the anchor affixed to your arm...an anchor meant for me...I used my skills with magic to keep you alive.  When you lost your base I suggested Skyhold."

Lydia felt anger rising like bile in her stomach."I suppose I should thank you then," she hissed sarcastically.

Solas ignored her, "When my agents learned of the Qunari plot against the other nations of Thedas, another unforeseen, unfortunate result of the poorly done business with Coprophilia, I had my people deliver the dead Qunari warrior directly to you.That scout who led you to the keg of gatlock?She was one of mine too."

"Why didn't you stop the Qunari yourself?  You seemed to know what they were up to long before we puzzled it out...a feat that apparently we were only able to accomplish because you fed us clues."

A smug look appeared on Solas' face.Lydia wanted to slap him."As I said, this all stemmed from a lesser mistake.To become directly involved in this would have made it far too difficult for me to correct the worst mistake I ever made and so I merely remedied it by proxy...with you and the Inquisition.  I suppose it will work out for you in the end, Orleans and Feldspar will see how indispensable the Inquisition is, after once more proving themselves to be the saviors of Thedas, and cease that farcical hearing."

Lydia scowled, "This huge mistake you keep speaking of..."

"The Veil.  Creating it was a mistake, though my reasons were good.  The cost was too high.  Far too high.  My people lost so much because of me...the choice that I made," Solas said, "and so, I will remedy this by removing the Veil."

A thousand thoughts ran through Lydia's mind all at once, but she found herself able to only mumble a single word: "How?"

Solas' dumb face cracked a smile, "I suppose the easiest way to explain it would be to imagine a big button with the word 'RESET' emblazoned upon it.  Can you see such a button?  Good.  Now imagine a suave elven deity, such as myself, strolling up to that button and pressing it.  Now imagine thousands of years of history erased in the blink of an eye.  The precise methods in which I will accomplish this are rather complicated and involve magicks that none alive today, save for myself could understand since they are magicks that fell into disuse eons ago."

"What about us?"

"My dear child, there was never an us...I, apparently much like yourself, could ever only love an elf."

"No asshole...that's not what I meant.  What about us...those of us who came after the Veil was created?  What happens to us when you press this hypothetical button and bring things back to the glory days of elven kind?" Lydia could feel her anger rising.  She tried to stand but found her limbs unresponsive.  Solas was doing something to hold her in place.

He opened his stupid mouth and said, "Unfortunately you will cease to be for you had no place in the world that was.  I am rather sorry that it must come to this, for I really harbor no ill will towards the vast majority of your kind.  Pity, perhaps, but no ill will."

"Fuck you!" Lydia spat, "You'll kill us all to bring back an age that only you remember.  Fuck you and fuck your guilt!"  Lydia became acutely aware of the pain in her arm once again.  It was a dull ache, one that had plagued her for weeks at a time in the months that followed the death of Coprophilia.

Solas smirked and said, "Your arm pains you does it not?  It is really quite a shame that you ended up with it instead of me, for I alone could withstand the magick contained within without perishing."  He approached her and gently touched her arm and suddenly all feeling drained from her arm.  It felt dead.

"What did you do to me?" Lydia asked.

"I could not heal your arm, but I could relieve your suffering, for you still have much work to do Inquisitor," Solas said, "It will be some time before I can remove the Fade and mankind should savor its twilight...unfortunately there are those who will wish to inflict pain and suffering on their fellow man until the very end.  You, my friend, have the ability to stop those vile cretins and let mankind's final days be ones of peace and reflection."

"Fuck you Solas!  If you don't kill me right now, I swear to Christ I will hunt you down until my dying breath and do whatever I can to stop you!"

Solas laughed, a cocky, arrogant laugh.  "Kill a god?  True, you killed a darkspawn playing at being a god, but should you wish to try your luck with killing me, perhaps I should remind you that I held you completely immobile, and halted the unstoppable pain that ravaged your arm for the entire duration of our conversation, without so much as a muttered phrase or a flick of my wrist.  Ask your friend Dorian to attempt such a feat...ask any mage.  No, child, you will not kill me, though you may wish to.  I pray that this is the last time you and I ever lay eyes upon each other.  Goodbye Inquisitor."

Lydia watched as Solas stepped through the mirror and vanished.  Fuck did she hate that guy.  Solas was the absolute worst.  The mists within the mirror suddenly ceased swirling and the mirror appeared to be naught but a normal mirror of silvered glass.  A moment passed before Lydia once more could move.  Immediately she attempted to move her left arm, and found herself unable to do so.  She pulled off her gauntlet and with her plot knife cut the leather bindings of her bracer and screamed.  Her hand and forearm had be turned to stone, just as the Qunari by the eluvian had been.

"No.  No.  No," she muttered to herself as she staggered back down to the mirror she had come through originally.  "Oh god no..."  She sobbed and stepped into the mirror, emerging a moment later in the clearing where she had slaughtered countless Qunari with her hand...her hand that was now a useless chunk of stone.  She saw Dorian and Bull were consoling Sara as she emerged.  Dorian noticed her first and ran over to her, but Sara and Bull were right behind him.

"Dorian!" Lydia shouted, "I found Solas...he...he turned my hand to stone!  I mean I think he stopped that crazy green shit from killing me, but I really don't need a stone arm.  Can you fix it?"

Dorian's face paled as he looked at the stone arm that Lydia was waving at him.  "I'm familiar with that spell...or at least a spell that creates a similar effect and unfortunately that magic...it's very old magic...which means there is no known counterspell."

"So I'm stuck with a stone arm then?" Lydia said.

Sara threw her arms around Lydia and said, "It doesn't even matter yeah?  The thing is, you're alive now, and that stupid green beam shite's gone so you can use your left hand on my bits if you want...though...I'm not certain a stone hand would be any better.  Is it a rough stone like a pumice or is it all smooth and shite like that stuff what can kill a white walker...dragon glass?"

Dorian tugged at his collar as if to let out steam and said, "Uh...here's the thing.  That spell...it doesn't really do 'partial petrification.'  It's kind of an all or nothing deal.  There are ways to cause the spell to spread more slowly, but eventually it always results to total petrification."

"So what?  She's dead anyway then?" Sara shouted, "Fucking Solas yeah?  If I ever see that bald headed knob again, he is going to get so arrowed."

"Bull."

"Yeah Boss?"

"Cut it off."

"What?  Are you serious Boss?"

"Cut it off."

"Buckles, no.  There's gotta be another way yeah?  I mean we can go check with Vivian or Vicky or whatever her name is now.  Maybe she knows a way...or that milfy elf one.  You know, kind of older, and elfy, but still kinda pretty?  Maybe she or one of her lot knows a way that they don't teach in Davinter.  Ask Cole!  Maybe that creepy guy can do some demon shit on you and make your arm better!" Sara offered.

"Sara, it's the only way," Lydia said, "Dorian, please take Sara and go."

"Buckles I'm not leaving you...not again yeah?  When you went through that mirror alone and I thought you were never coming back..."  Sara's lower lip trembled and she continued, her voice cracking somewhat as she spoke, "I don't want to feel that way again yeah?"

"Alright, but promise me you won't look at my arm," Lydia said.

Sara nodded and took Lydia's non-stone hand in her own, facing away from the outstretched stone arm and Bull.

"I could cast a spell that would block out some of the pain," Dorian offered, "It won't last long, but it should help while Bull is...doing what you asked of him..."

"Please."

Dorian began to cast his spell and Bull hoisted his axe and slowly took a measured swing.  Lydia could tell he had done this more than once.  "Boss, I don't know how good that spell Dorian cast is so I'm going to do this as quick as possible, but it might take a couple swings on account of the stone, so I'm sorry in advance."

"Bull, it's fine.  Just do it whenever you're ready."

The Iron Bull raised his axe and brought it down into Lydia's outstretched arm and a scream of pain filled the air.

* * *

The Senators glared down at Josephine from the polished oak dais.She swallowed hard and glanced around the hall.It was packed to the rafters with trial fans from all across Thedas.The Antivan nerd suddenly felt like a right proper ass for buying into the hype surrounding the Lydia "The Inquisitor" Trevelyn vs. "Big Red" Samson trial.The notion that such an insignificant affair could ever be consider the Trial of the Age seemed almost laughable to her now.

"Lady Montilyet!I ask you once more to produce the Lady Trevelyn elsewise we will have no choice but to continue the hearing without her.We have already delayed these proceedings quite long enough for Miss Trevelyn as it is," a Feldsparian senator grumbled disgruntledly.

Josephine huffed.Leliana had been rather cryptic about precisely what had happened to Lydia, saying only that the invasion had been stopped but Lydia had been rather badly injured in the process and would require several days to recover before being able to appear before the Senate Ways & Means Committee.Dorian and The Iron Bull knew more but neither would talk and Sara hadn't left the Inquisitor's bedside since they had returned so far as she could tell.

Some of the Inquisition soldiers who had been on duty guarding the mirror when the Inquisitor and her companions returned swore that The Iron Bull had been carrying the Inquisitor, wrapped in a cloth that was soaked through with blood, but none knew the nature of her wounds and so rumors abound in the camps.She had either had her finger bitten clean off by a fiend who desired a magical ring she had been wearing at the time or lost her hand in a duel with a dark knight who revealed himself to be her long thought deceased father if the camp rumors were to believed.

"I have been assured that the Inquisitor will be present today Senator," Josephine replied meekly.

Before the Senator had an opportunity to bellow, "When exactly?!" the heavy doors to the hall groaned open and Sara and Leliana, both clad in their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club finery, entered.  As they passed, a murmur went up from the crowd, for behind them was Lydia Trevelyn.  So relieved was Josephine to finally be off the hook, that it took her a moment to realize that the left sleeve of Lydia's coat had been folded and pinned up at the elbow.  Lydia had lost her hand and forearm.

The Inquisitor had a look of righteous fury upon her face as she strode the length of the hall until she stood directly before the dais and a hush fell over the hall.Lydia carried under her arm a tome that she placed upon the dais with a resounding  _THUMP!_ Josephine recognized the book immediately, but few others in the hall would know precisely what it was.The Senators, for their part, looked hella perplexed.

"That is a writ from the Divine Justine allowing for the reformation of the Inquisition to and I quote, 'restore order in Thedas,' which is precisely what we've tried to do this entire time.We ended the Mage Rebellion in Feldspar and the Civil War in Orleans.We stopped more Davinter plots than I can count.Slew like, I dunno, a dozen dragons.Killed Coprophilia and fucking fixed the hole in the sky, and most recently stopped a Qunari plot to assassinate everyone in Thedas.My friends and I have put ourselves in danger for you people more times than you could possibly imagine!You see this?" Lydia shouted, raising the stump that was once her left arm, "My arm is gone...lost protecting all of you assholes from horrors that you could not possibly imagine!I lost an arm so you could all sleep soundly at night and instead of being grateful you fuckers whine and complain about how I went about doing what needed to be done!You don't want an Inquisition anymore?Fine!I don't want to lead an Inquisition anymore either!"

She then turned to face the audience, and rather dramatically ripped the Inquisition heraldry from her jacket, threw it on the ground and stepped on it with the heel of her boot, grinding the patch into the carpeting.A collective gasp rose from the assembled audience and Lydia smirked.She the turned back toward the Senators, raised her right arm and extended her middle finger and went down the dais declaring, "Fuck you.Fuck you.Fuck you," she paused at the particularly loathsome senator from Feldspar and declared, "I'm sorry my other hand is gone because if anyone ever deserved the double deuce it's you, you grimy motherfucker...so fuck you most of all!"

The Senators were livid, shouting things like, "How dare you?!" and "Why, I never!" but Lydia merely turned and marched back down the carpet that led from the door to the dais.Sara leapt up from the pew in which she was seated and joined Lydia, stripping off her jacket and throwing it into the air as they exited the great hall together.Josephine thought it was a rather mild response from Sara.She would have expected bees or at least pies...

"Order!Order!" the senator from Feldspar shouted, as the Inquisitor and her wife threw the doors open and walked out of the great hall.  The audience continued to shout and Josephine knew that there would be no order for a long time to come.

* * *

And thus so did the Inquisition come to an end.The soldiers put down their swords and returned home and Lydia and her companions went their separate ways.

Vivian proved herself to be a fucking terrible Divine, pissing a heap of mages who started a university separate from the Towers and the Chantry.Lacking any real power, Vivian pretty much had to leave them be.Her gross incompetence pissed off Cassandra as well, who bailed and went off into the mountains with her Seekers to build something.

Varric returned to Kirkwall and as viscount set about bringing order to the city with Hawke and his Captain of Guards, Aveline.Stories of the fistfights that erupted in court between the Viscount of Kirkwall's two most trusted advisors became legendary rather quickly.

Tom "Blackwall" Riddle wandered throughout Thedas, making an effort to atone for his crimes by visiting those souls forgotten in the darkest dungeons of the land, speaking with them and offering whatever solace he could.

Cole and his lady friend, the bard, traveled together from town to town and in spite her terrible playing and awful repertoire of songs the people of the towns they visited found themselves inexplicably happy.

Cullen got a dog.

Leliana continued to ply her trade as a master of secrets, working alongside the women she had trained in the Inquisition, but she gradually scaled back her role and began to spend more time at her childhood home on the coast with her beloved Odette.The days the two of them spent there together were counted by the Inquisition's former spymaster as her most precious.

With the Inquisition disbanded, Josephine returned home to Antiva to run her family estate and tend to her family's mercantile affairs.It was not long before ships bearing the heraldry of House Montilyet once again filled the seas of Thedas.

Dorian, too, returned home and with his dear friend, Maevarius, set to work reforming Davinter.Often would he be seen intoning, "Can you hear me now?" into a small black box.Few knew that somewhere on the opposite side of Thedas the one time Herald of Andraste was replying, "Yeah, what's up Dorian?" into a similar device.There were many within Davinter, however, who took umbrage with not only the changes Dorian wished to bring about, but also with the rumors that persisted that the head of House Parvus was somehow romantically involved with a mercenary captain.

Bull kept on mercenarying with the Chargers and continued getting it on with Dorian when time permitted.

Following the outburst of her wife at the Senate Ways & Means Committee hearing, Sara more or less vanished from the public eye.There were, of course, countless stories that were attributed to her and her wife, usually involving an arrogant noble and pies or bees, but sometimes there arrows...oh so many arrows.Few knew precisely how many of the Red Jenny & Lady Trevelyn stories were actually true and how many were the work of bards far more clever than Cole's lady friend, but tales of the mayhem left in the wake of the lady elf from the alienage in Denerim and her noblewoman wife were popular with regular people people from the Anderfels to Fort Awesome in Feldspar. 

In Ostwick, House Trevelyn, for a time, outlawed ballads about their daughter and her elven wife, but when it became clear that Lydia Trevelyn and Red Jenny were better loved by the common folk of Ostwick than House Trevelyn itself was, they relented.In time the daughter who they had so publicly disowned for her "shameful dalliances with an elven woman of most common birth," was rather quietly returned to the family registry...along with her wife, "Lady Sara Trevelyn."The familial peace was rather short lived though for it is said that upon her first visit to the royal palace of Ostwick, "Red Jenny" absconded with her mother by law's tiara.

As for Solas?Fuck Solas!Following the dissolution of the Inquisition all trace of Solas or Fen Harel or whoever that bald headed fuck actually was disappeared.There were, however, rumors of elves leaving the alienages and Danish elves heading deep into the wilds.None knew what would come of it, but all agreed that Solas was the absolute worst.

_Seriously, fuck Solas..._

 

**End Credits**

Scout Harding found herself in the dungeons beneath the ruins of Haven.  Had Seeker Penderghast not already been there when she arrived, Scout Harding might have thought she had misunderstood the ciphered message Leliana had sent her.  The message had been rather light on details, giving only a location and a date and instructions to burn the parchment once it had been read.  It was the first missive she'd received since the Inquisition had been disbanded.

"Any idea what this is all about?" Scout Harding asked Seeker Penderghast.  The Seeker looked up from the book she had been reading and glared at Scout Harding.  Scout Harding instantly regretted opening her mouth.  The Seeker scared her.

"I haven't the slightest," the Seeker said with a smirk, "Leliana was rather cryptic in the message she sent me.  I suppose we will have to wait for her to arrive."  The Seeker said no more, and merely returned to her book.

"I should have brought a book with me too," Scout Harding thought to herself.  She hoped Leliana would arrive soon.  Seeker Penderghast was not the greatest conversationalist.

Several moments later, there was a sound of footsteps on the stairs and the Seeker drew her sword.  Scout Harding followed her lead and drew a knife from her belt.  She'd much rather have used a bow, but in such close quarters it would have been all but useless.  The air of the dungeon was pregnant with anticipation as the sound of footsteps drew ever closer.  Closer and closer they came until finally, Seeker Penderghast sheathed her sword and embraced a cloaked figure with her hood drawn up.

"It is good to see you again my friend," the Seeker said.

"And you Cassandra," came the familiar voice of Leliana as the former spy master to the Inquisition lowered the hood of her cloak.

"Leliana, I'm glad you made it," Scout Harding said.

"Ah Scout Harding, you've made it here as well," Leliana said, "Then I believe we are just waiting for two more.  I expect they will be along shortly."

"Can I ask what this is all about?" Scout Harding asked, "I mean the Inquisition disbanded, but you kept paying me and had me going all over Thedas like nothing happened in the Winter Palace...and now you have us come back to Haven of all places and meet in the dungeons."

"This meeting was not my doing," Leliana said, "I received the same letter as you with the additional instruction to forward the letter to you and Lady Cassandra.  As for your continued employment, I am certain it will make more sense once the final party arrives.  Until then it is perhaps better we wait."

Scout Harding sighed and sat down on an upturned crate.  "Kirkwall was interesting," she said to no one in particular, "I don't know why we couldn't tell Viscount Tethras I was there though.  Charter and I ended up sleeping in the scummiest inn.  We watched that house in the Alienage though like you asked.  No one went in or out the entire time I was there.  I told Charter to send word if she noticed anything weird."

"Not here I hope," Leliana said.

Scout Harding replied, "No, of course not.  To the same contact you told us to use when you sent us there."

"Good," Leliana said and nodded absentmindedly, and said nothing more.

Again an awkward silence fell over the dungeon beneath Haven.  How much time passed, Scout Harding could not be sure, but after a time, the silence was again broken by footsteps and voices.  This time the Seeker did not draw her sword.  She did not even stand.  In the hallway came the sound of girlish laughter, and then a moment later the Inquisitor and her wife emerged from the shadows. 

"No, she isn't the Inquisitor any more, just Lady Trevelyn," Scout Harding reminded herself.

It was strange to see her.  Scout Harding hadn't seen Lady Trevelyn since before she went to the Winter Palace.  Since before she and Sara had gotten married...before she'd lost her arm.  Scout Harding watched as Lady Trevelyn and Sara crossed the room to a table at the far end.  Sara carried a satchel with her from which she took several scrolls that she unfurled upon the table.

"Everyone's here then yeah?" Sara asked, "Ready my love?"

Lady Trevelyn nodded and then addressed the others, "The Inquisition is done, but there is still work that remains.  We don't have an army any more or support from the noble houses of Thedas.  Others might see this as a disadvantage, but I see it as a blessing.  Solas knew the Inquisition.  He knew our structure and how we operated.  He knew Skyhold.  Knew our numbers, and most importantly he'd infiltrated our ranks.  So we need to start again.  The people in this room I trust with my life, but we're going to need others...people Solas doesn't already know if we want to keep him off balance long enough to work out a plan on how to beat him."

"Any idea where we should look?" Scout Harding asked.

Lady Trevelyn smiled and took a stiletto from her belt and with a flick of her wrist stabbed it into the map, right above Davinter and with a grin said, "As a matter of fact I do..." 

 


End file.
